Cancer Tales

Short abstract

Written by Nell Dunn

Directed by Trevor Walker Greenwood Theatre, Weston Street, London SE1, 16 May Performed as part of the Art of Dying symposium at King's College London www.kcl.ac.uk/depsta/humanities/art_of_dying

Rating: ★★★★

When Nell Dunn's father died from cancer, she found it difficult to handle. She did not know how to help him or cope with his death. She lived in denial for years. That was 25 years ago. Now, at the age of 67, she feels that she needs to learn from that experience and be “more friendly with death.” She says: “ I want it to be part of ordinary life.”

Figure 1.

Dunn: now less afraid of death

FRANK BARON/GUARDIAN

Dunn decided to learn from others and write Cancer Tales. She got in touch with friends whose lives had been affected by cancer, friends of friends, and oncologists and their patients, and decided to tell their stories. Dunn calls them “love stories”—how people come together and cope in a crisis.

Five personal histories of pain, hopelessness, hope, resignation, and love are the ingredients for Cancer Tales. Full of feeling, this play sends out a message: that life is still life until the last moment and that patients who are approaching death need to be treated as living people. What makes the difference can be rather simple, but doctors often face the problem of overcrowded wards and practices, and being in the right place at the right time with the right words can sometimes be difficult.

These five real stories take us to real problems. The monologues and dialogues are brilliantly written, transporting the audience into the minds and the lives of the characters. The set is minimal, the play mesmerising.

Joan (played by Judy Wilson) watches her son dying from lung cancer. She is in denial about it. Another person in a similar situation might act differently. Rebecca (Paula Plantier), for example, is a young and independent woman who returns home with leukaemia after living abroad for many years. She starts again, learning to live with her family, to depend on others, and to search for dignity and individuality. Her relationship with her mother, Mary (Sheila Ruskin), is frustrating; Mary “just doesn't know how to be around Rebecca.”

Marilyn (Di Sherlock) has a large, inoperable, uterine tumour. The unconditional love that her girlfriend, Penny (Nancy McClean), feels towards her shows how together people can become stronger, and how they learn to solve problems, to live during difficult moments, and, finally, to accept death.

Sharon (Nicola Goodchild) is a young woman with breast cancer. She isn't bothered about losing a breast but is devastated at the prospect of losing her hair. She and her husband work through each problem that the debilitating and devastating chemotherapy throws at them.

Clare (Laura Fitzpatrick), also a young woman with uterine cancer, is blunt and to the point about the small things that can make a difference. She feels invisible: “This huge thing takes over and the little things are lost—it makes a difference to be recognised.” She describes the indignity of being treated with vaginal radiotherapy.

In each of these stories there are incompetent doctors and the occasional nurse, saying the wrong thing and almost acting negligently. One of the themes is that patients and carers want doctors to be clear and perceptive. As well as being a powerful and moving drama, Cancer Tales is a lesson in communication skills and in dealing with patients. Several hospitals in the United States have approached Dunn asking her to run productions of the play for them.

Dunn believes that “acting is an unparalleled way to experience life from the other side” and she believes that she has learnt a great deal from Cancer Tales. She is less afraid of death and now feels able to ask for support and to give it. She has thought deeply about what makes a good death. As her play shows, it is different for each patient, but there are some things that everyone would like: autonomy, dignity, to be free from pain, and to be with loved ones. When Rebecca dies, she is pain free and surrounded by her family. “It's time to go now, mum,” she says.