Many people suffer in silence, and those brave enough to confide in their doctors often fare little better – Professor Alastair Forbes

As a blogger, I get all sorts of pitches from PRs – some great, some zany, some totally irrelevant. Sometimes us mummy bloggers get pitched things that embarrass us, or make us giggle. Sex toys and Mooncups, for example – we giggle, we laugh, some of us review them. It’s all good.

Occasionally, I get an email about an event – a children’s toy fayre, a beauty expo perhaps. Never before though, have I had an email that pitches a stage show about faecal incontinence.

Yup, when you can’t control your bowel movements. A play. About that.

So why am I writing about it? I’m writing about it because although I don’t suffer from it, I do suffer from Irritable Bowel Syndrome, and I know that anything to do with that area can be embarrassing for people – sometimes so embarrassing that they don’t seek help, and that’s no good at all.

It turns out that one in one hundred people will suffer from faecal incontinence at some point in their lives, and one of the groups most likely to be affected are new mothers, but most don’t feel comfortable talking about it, even to their own doctors, which means they suffer for far longer than they need to.

Professor Alastair Forbes from the Gastroenterology team at University College Hospital London says:

“It is clear that many people suffer in silence, and those brave enough to confide in their doctors often fare little better, as there is also medical ignorance of the condition, it’s evaluation and treatment options. The first step to improving management of faecal incontinence is its wider recognition and the willingness of doctors and nurses to engage positively with the patient”

Incontinental

Multi-award winning playmaker Kazuko Hohki and her company have set about trying to break the taboo by putting on an ‘incontinental cabaret’ of stories, situations, song, science and a spot of ballroom dancing in a show about control and what it means to lose it.

It’s created and performed in collaboration with Professor Forbes, Lewis Barfoot, Colin Carmichael, Andy Cox and Max Hallett, and is supported by an Arts Award from the Wellcome Trust.

Hohki says:

“Making this show was an amazing experience for me. A human being’s most fundamental activity can become a problem, and such secrecy and fear arise that people are prevented from enjoying a normal life, and become isolated. However, if people can at least talk about it, the situation might change slightly. By means of this show, I’m hoping this slight shift might happen”

Performances will take place at  at Camden People’s Theatre, London (Wednesday 21 & Thursday 22 March) as part of the Sprint festival and University College Hospital, London (Friday 23 March) – contact jo@kazukohohki.com or call 07843 274684 for more info.