Backstage in Biscuitland review: a Tourette’s hero saves the day

Backstage in Biscuitland
Axis, Ballymun
★★★★

“Tourette’s is a neurological condition, not a mental-health disorder,” Jessica Thom says, in a passionate speech punctuated by the soundtrack of her fist thumping her chest and the repetition of the word “biscuit”. However, Tourette’s is also a “crazy language-generating machine” and Thom, an artist, theatre-lover and “Tourette’s hero”, uses the unpredictable illogic of a Tourette’s conversation to craft a hilarious narrative about the challenges she faces, both physically and in the social world.

Thom’s vocal tics have seen her excluded from many situations, including the theatre. And, unable to control the motor tics of “her wiggly body”, she has recently started using a wheelchair. She has a roster of carers who stay with her every night. Even on stage she has an assistant – Jess Mabel Jones, aka Chopin – who helps her to stay on track with the narrative but is also trained to provide emergency care in case Thom has one of her severe fits.

The set is a reflection of the various U-turns the narrative takes. There are a selection of random objects that provide inspiration for various non-sequiturs: a life-size statue of Mother Teresa, four ducks dressed as pterodactyls, a Donald Trump Babygro, a dinosaur balloon. Jones brings on other key items during the hour-long show, including a naked dolphin and a Tourette’s hero puppet, to whom she administers medical assistance when the time comes, with the help of an audience member.

The reason she made the show, Thom says, was to make the theatre a more inclusive place, and as she rouses the audience for a sing-song, the lyrics of one of her obscene ditties displayed on a beautiful embroidered backcloth, you cannot argue with her success.

Run ended