tweet review - #mnfringe show 13 - Fire In My Veins: Blazing Through Life With Invisible Illness: Allison Broeren is a marvel; either 90 min. version (Thurs) or 60 min. version (M/W/F), you should see this; frank, funny, eye-opening, brilliant, best of the fest - 5 stars
I’ll be honest, when I realized that the Saturday 8:30pm showing of Allison Broeren’s solo show “Fire In My Veins: Blazing Through Life with Invisible Illness” was going to be the full-length, 90-minute version, I had two thoughts, “Great! Now I don’t need to worry about trying to make it to a 10pm show because it’s not possible” and “Oh dear, a 90-minute solo show at the end of a long day of Fringing, will I be able to stay alert for the whole thing?”
“I don’t have enough wine in my purse to deal with this stuff.”
Well, as it turns out, no worries there. “Fire In My Veins” is such a compelling show that whether you’re lucky enough to get the 90-minute version (Thursday) or the 60-minute condensed version (Monday/Wednesday/Friday), Allison will have no trouble holding your attention. I have had the pleasure of watching Allison’s growing skills as a storyteller over the years, but “Fire In My Veins” is really next-level work from her. This kind of extremely personal, and extremely technical (in the medical sense) type of story could go off the rails so easily. It could become a laundry list of misery that might still leave us with no better understanding. But in Allison’s hands, this material is riveting. Her sense of humor and unwavering determination are the saving graces for a story that might otherwise hold little joy or hope.
“An exploding leg is not OK. An exploding leg is not something my mind created.”
Unraveling the mystery of Allison’s chronic health issues was only part of the journey. Once you figure out what disease you and your doctors are dealing with (once you find some doctors who will listen to you and be willing to do the medical detective work, that is), then you have to find a way to live with the problem, because it’s not going anywhere. Allison knows just how to strike the right balance between enough detail to help us understand the situation, and too much detail that might just fry our brains and make it hard to keep up.
“But you’re out of sick days.”
(Spoiler alert for Spoon Theory section of the show, skip the paragraph - it just really blew my mind so I had to make a note for future reference)
And her explanation of Spoon Theory helped me to understand people living with invisible illness in a whole new way. The stage is decorated with large colorful cardboard spoons and every now and again I’d wonder, hey, what are all those spoons about? And why is there a jar with a whole bouquet of dozens of wooden spoons with hearts cut in them sitting on that counter, untouched and unexplained. Then we get to Spoon Theory - short version, on a good day, a person dealing with chronic illness might have 12 spoons’ worth of energy to get them through the day. Then, you watch as Allison ticks through the various basic tasks of the day, and how quickly those spoons can run out - 1 spoon for getting out of bed, 1 for checking in with the body and seeing what condition it’s in today and what adjustments might need to be made, 1 for breakfast, 1 for getting ready for work, 1 for driving to work, 1 for getting from the parking lot to your desk, then of course you’d need a spoon for each hour of an 8 hour work day, and 1 for lunch, and then there’s getting home, getting dinner, did you want to make some art or see some theater…? There are a lot of hard decisions to be made.
“She knew how much I hated being [in the hospital]. The fact that I refused to leave terrified her.”
Back when the doctors finally figured out Allison’s illness and started treatment, they gave her a 50-50 shot at surviving the year, and then if that happened maybe a 75 percent shot at five additional years after that. Well, it’s 19 years later and she’s married with a house and two dogs and started a series of story/slam open mic events and, oh yeah, also co-founded the theater space for improv and comedy (and Fringe venue) we’re all seeing this show in tonight so - she’s made really good use of those spoons.
“Life has gifted me with more puppets than I thought it would.”
“Fire In My Veins: Blazing Through Life With Invisible Illness” is a funny and inspiring window into a different kind of life people live that I had no real frame of reference for 90 minutes prior to that. Allison Broeren is a remarkable storyteller and an even more remarkable human being, and you should see her show as quickly as you can.
5 Stars - Very Highly Recommended
Here's some handy links to a rundown of 5 and 4.5 Star shows I've seen this year, also the 4 and 3.5 Star shows, and the rest, plus this year's Top 10 list, and Top 11-20 List, and the full list of all returning favorites in the 2023 Fringe, plus a link to all the 2023 Minnesota Fringe Festival coverage.
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