"A really powerful play that will make you laugh and cry and will touch your heart in many ways."
Join David Hansen for I HATE THIS, a solo performance that takes you from the moment his son was born and through the year that follows.... but not in that order.This is an honest, compelling and even humorous trip through one father's experience of stillbirth.
We are delighted that, following his performance at Sands AGM in 2006, David Hansen is returning to the UK this summer for a two week tour of his play... see dates and locations below.
STOP PRESS: We are happy to announce that, by popular demand, the script for the play has now been published by Sands and is available to order from our head office.
9th June - Carlisle
booking enquiries - Libby 01768 881971
12th June - London - launch of Sands new Guidelines
booking enquiries - Sue 0845 6520 443
14th June - Lincoln
booking enquiries - Julia 01522 698784
16th June - Birmingham
booking enquiries - Lis 07709 425001
18th June - Northern Ireland
boking enquiries - Steven 07740 993450
20th June - Exeter
booking enquiries - Gill 07881 950271
22nd June - Plymouth
booking enquiries - Nick 07758 336760
For general enquiries please contact the office 020 7436 7940 or support@uk-sands.org
Review of I Hate This
David Hansen's one man play takes the audience through his experience of stillbirth. David's son Calvin was stillborn at thirty weeks, and David has found an honest, compelling, poignant and sometimes even humorous way to tell his story.
The play follows two strands, which intermingle throughout the show. One story-thread details the 36 hours from discovering by ultrasound that his baby has died, to the moment of his son's birth. In alternating scenes we also learn about the year following Calvin's death, and how the people in his life react to David and his partner Toni's grief.
David plays several characters, including his parents, bro the rs, an old friend and even his young niece. David's family feels discomfort in acknowledging what has happened. Their reluctance to talk openly about Calvin leaves David and Toni feeling confused and isolated. Only his niece, with the directness of children, breaks through this unease.
The segments which re-live the time Toni and David spent in hospital are painfully real. From David's confusion and inability to take on board the words the registrar was saying: “What? What could be the matter? The truth was incomprehensible so I didn't even think of it”, and the blur of dealing with many new and unexpected choices: “Suddenly we had one day to make a completely different set of decisions, decisions we never, in our worst nightmares, thought we'd have to make. See it? Name it? Hold it?”, the se scenes capture the bewilderment and devastation so many parents feel.
This strand of the story also graphically exemplifies the difference between good and bad professional care. ‘Nurse Evil', who is with the couple during part of Toni's labour, is toe-curlingly unfeeling - it is lesson in what not to do and say.
The play follows a roller coaster of emotions: guilt, blame, fear, anger, emptiness and grief. David does not shy away from portraying painful moments, but nei the r is the play oppressive.
There are moments when the crass insensitivity of some people's reactions are so awful as to be comic. David's sideways glance at the audience invites us to identify with the impact of being on the receiving end, while at the same time conveying an understanding that it is hard for anyone to know what to say.
The tension of the play is relieved by scenes of humour, for example his on-going battle to have his name taken off a mail-order list for baby products. The lightness is just as effective in making the point that such tactless treatment causes distress.
The milestones throughout the year are touched on: funeral, due date, birthday - small but telling details remembered. In one, as the y hear the autopsy report read out, David infills his personal reaction as the fa the r of the ‘subject' of the impersonal, medicalised report, concluding with what the report can never tell him:
“That's it. We cannot confirm whe the r or not he liked Elvis, Chinese food or Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. That is all you will ever know about your son.”
David's excellent performance is honest, direct and engaging. He connects with the audience in an understated way, but the power of the experience is very real. For bereaved and non-bereaved alike this extraordinary play touched the heart of a heartbreaking experience.
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