Unshakeable
2007 was a very odd year for me. I had all the symptoms of Parkinson's Disease - all I was missing was the diagnosis - and I was planning my first ever one man show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It was going to be called "Unshakeable" and was going to be built around my regular stand up set, which mostly centred on my shaking. At that point "Unshakeable", as a title, was intended as pure irony.
I'd put a lot into it. I had a venue with the Free Festival upstairs in the small back room of a pub up on West Nicolson Street called the Counting House and I had a script that I thought was pretty damned good.
In fact, considering how much effort had gone into the show it seems odd that, at a time when the shaking was at the heart of all my endeavours, I asked for a referral to see a consultant neurologist for another stab at sorting the tremor out.
But that's what I did. I guess I wasn't expecting a miracle. Thing was, this time, that's exactly what I got.
They put me on some pills and within about six weeks symptoms I'd had for the best part of 18 years, and had every reason to believe would be with me for the rest of my life, were pretty much gone.
So there I was, about two months before my first performance at Fringe 2007 and suddenly I didn't have a show! But I did have a funny situation and after a lot of very hurried re-writing that became the first incarnation of "Unshakeable". I effectively wrote a show about how ironic it was that after all that work I didn't shake anymore… and called it "Unshakeable" because it still seemed to fit. After all, this change hadn't thrown me. I still did a show… and it worked pretty well!
As successful as it was though, it was inevitably a knee jerk reaction to what was a huge and very profound life change. The focus at that time was very much on humour, and glossed over the rapidly gathering storm clouds.
This change was about to throw up some very big issues for me, issues that back then, I wasn't equipped to face..
It took me three years to sort things out, but now, with a proper diagnosis and a much better understanding of my condition and myself, I decided that it was time to revisit the show and add the balance and depth to it that it deserves.
The plan was to re-work the original script, but I dare say that was never going to work. What I have now is a very different animal, probably because I myself am now a very different animal… but that title still fits.
If anybody was in that small, upstairs back room in 2007 I hope you'll come along to theSpace @ Surgeons Hall this year and get the next chapter. For those who'll be seeing it for the first time, don't worry "Unshakeable" II is much, much bigger and much, much better.
