The Button Event

The Button Event
Devised by Todd MacDonald with Bagryana Popov. Queensland Theatre Company in association with Brisbane Festival. 18-27 September 2014

Todd MacDonald already on stage, pitching tennis balls at a big white bin. Doors close, lights down, spot Todd as he reads a letter to Mary MacKillop (a hard-copy prayer?) for interceding on his family’s behalf and for the success of his daughter’s treatment.

That reassures us this is more than a sad diatribe of a father’s emotional journey through his daughter’s rare illness. In retrospect, it is a reassurance to other families with a sick child to remain positive:  Children are resilient and bounce back. (Hence the many symbolic tennis balls onstage.)

Her parents first detected Lola was not developing as fast as her twin, Ruby. Paediatric specialists diagnosed Tuberous Sclerosis, words that would strike fear into any parents’ hearts!

Doctors explained the disease in layman terms: (in Lola’s case, clusters of small benign tumours developing in the brain); and how it affects the patient (slower development and epileptic fits).

Medical teams began intensive studies. Todd pays credit to wife Rebecca who, perceptive of changes in Lola’s behaviour, pushed the ALERT button that summoned doctors, observers, people to read responses from the brain electrodes attached to a shaved patch of Lola’s head. They defined the brain area where these tumours were. A cranial examination and operation was needed to remove them.

This brave one-man show examines the torment and trauma this family must have suffered.  Yet it is never depressing.

Jay McKee

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