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What's Your Sign? | Canoe Theatre Festival star Bruce Horak's is Cancer.

THIS IS CANCER
Directed by Rebecca Northan. Written by Bruce Horak and Rebecca Northan. Starring Bruce Horak, Rebecca Northan, Waylen Miki. The Third Space (11516-103 St). Jan. 22-25. Tickets available through TIX on the Square (420-1757/tixonthesquare.ca).

Bruce Horak, star and co-writer of This Is Cancer, has a warning for people going to see his show at Workshop West’s Canoe Theatre Festival this week: “Whatever you expect cancer to look like, this is not it.”

It’s not often you’re called upon to imagine a disease in human form (let alone one that prompts such intense emotional responses), and it’s even rarer that you can actually get to know the disease personally. But Horak and director/co-writer Rebecca Northan let audiences spend an interactive evening with their vision of cancer: a slightly absurd narcissist with a penchant for lounge singing.

“The expression Rebecca uses is ‘naked ego on parade,’” Horak says in describing how they came up with the character. “‘Cancer as celebrity’ was a big part of the creation process. There were lots of figures that I was incorporating — people like Mick Jagger, Bono, and to some degree Paris Hilton. They’re all kind of in there.”

Imagining the character in this way is a means of exploring how people respond to the disease when it has such a dominating presence. Though not strictly a one-man show, This Is Cancer is all about Horak’s embodiment of Cancer, a performance deliberately devised to provoke reactions, whether positive or negative.

If you do choose to see the show and vocalize your opinion of Cancer, don’t expect the comment to go unnoticed. “The character does respond to the audience,” Horak says, “and that’s kind of where the journey takes a whole other leap.” Even those who wish to remain silent may find themselves interacting with Cancer, something Horak acknowledges can be difficult for some viewers. “I’m drawing things out of them. And that can be a really terrifying thing for an audience to hear before they go into a show, ‘You may be called upon to participate.’”

“A big part of it is because it’s a terrifying subject,” he continues. “Going in and seeing a show called This Is Cancer is frightening.”

As someone who lost his father to cancer and a survivor of the disease himself, Horak knows all too well how grim the topic can be. He hopes that by giving a body to cancer he can provide a target for the anger and grief of people who have been affected by it. “You have an image of what the enemy’s face is so you know what it is that you’re attacking,” he says. “That’s a big part of the healing process, actually in your mind giving a solid form to whatever that fear is.”

Horak believes that the interaction between the audience and the character of Cancer contributes to that relief. “For some people there’s a real catharsis gained by seeing a person up there, and having the opportunity to laugh at cancer.”

The thought of seeing This Is Cancer and partaking in some of its improvised comedy may also attract viewers without any history with the disease, and Horak says he wants anyone in the audience to consider what they learn about themselves from the experience.

“I hope that it’s not only cathartic for people who are going through it or loved ones of people who are going through it, but for people who haven’t even come in contact with it,” he says. “I think there’s a message there as well, because for two hours, they are in the room with Cancer. It’s an opportunity to face mortality. Hey man, who wouldn’t pay 20 bucks for that?”