I named my performance ‘Sugar Coated’ as the public’s perception is mainly that type 1 diabetes is just something to do with not being able to eat sugar. Or something as simple as that. In my performance I wanted to tackle this pre miss conception and show that although I do have funny experiences and I am a happy student there are a lot of horrible things that i have had to go through or could go through if my sugar levels aren’t controlled.

My script started with a list of words which the audience gave me feedback saying it was a powerful opening. Starting sat on the floor whilst putting haribo’s into a jar as a pre-performance whilst the lights flashed mutli-coloured with the Archies song “Sugar, Sugar” playing, I feel would have worked better if the audience was larger as I would have had more time to fill the jar and make the audience consider what type 1 diabetes really is for longer. From starting with colourful lights and then moving to a spot light on a microphone, I feel the change in light colours worked well as they represented the states of sugar levels I was talking about and set the atmosphere. Red lights represented my sugar levels being high, whilst pale blue’s pulsed around sections of the stage to show the drop in my sugar levels.

From facts, to personal confessions, experiences, funny and serious, to voice overs of friends answers to questions. I feel my changing/manic style represented my life with diabetes well- it is manic. If I had more time I would definitely work out how long each of the voice recordings lasted so I could be more choreographed with setting up the stage. However, in a way, I kind of like the fact I was constantly on edge and wasn’t sure how long the recordings were going to go on for as again this is a factor of being diabetic. It is unpredictable and draining, constantly waiting and adjusting more and more- which is what I kept doing with all the numbered plates and leaflets- re-positioning them.   

I feel I managed to get my main message across through the text and visuals of the projection screens. What type 1 diabetes is. How it is caused. What the symptoms are. That there are no restrictions. Just a balancing act.

I was worried that using a script on stage would not be effective and look like I am lazy. The truth is every time I went to create my solo performance my levels would be high or low and I would be drained.

Imagine going hypo during a performance and forgetting all your lines.

Because my life is full of constant struggles and juggling I find it hard to also say the key points and factors of having type 1 diabetes therefore having a script, using voice overs and projections I feel gave me the stability that sometimes I need, but I hope I managed to connect to the audience in the important moments, from the comedy at the beginning where I looked at an audience member to make them feel involved but also show them from the beginning this is going to be a light hearted outlook on diabetes-

You’re a lot like my insulin… I can’t live without you.

Then handing out Haribo’s influenced from ‘Hair Peace’ where the audience where given samples of hair to pass around, it made the audience think more into actually what does this object mean to the performer. By also showing how I blood test, carb count, inject and eat, whilst the voice overs gave more of an inner monologue, I feel it was more impacting than me just talking at the audience for the whole performance. I believe visuals are important so the use of screens was influenced from Victoria Melody and like Jamie Wood’s crazy things he did such as get in a bag and strip, i wanted to inject myself on stage as I’ve never seen anyone do this before and also trying to show that I once hallucinated chocolate spread was attacking me through the ceiling could have been a great image to play with. However, because I am rubbish with technology I couldn’t create spinning nutella jars on the screen, but if I had more time I definitely would and I’d like to have filled the room with a sweet smell to play on all the audience’s senses. Like Laurie Anderson with her extravagant lights I then at the end wanted to create a beautiful image.

The constant adjusting of the objects did tire me out and make me slightly out of breath and the lights staretd to make me sweat. This is all just a part of performing, but again what I have to deal with everyday, by me standing still at the end and letting the vessel lights cover my body I think i showed how having type 1 diabetes is

…a rollercoaster and a never ending cycle which will continue. I want to be in control but it’s hard. I just have to smile through it.

I guess you could say my body’s a malfunctioned machine that plays one big guessing game based on smaller machines. A balancing act. 36,000 odd blood tests. My life revolves around numbers, levels, time, effort, energy and all these clever little devices… imagine if they all just stopped working. (Baillie, 2016)