Edinburgh 2022: Review: DAVE CHAWNER: MENTAL, Cabaret Voltaire
Review of Dave Chawner: Mental at Cabaret Voltaire
Guest writer: L Gourley
This review contains mention of eating disorders (anorexia).
Dave Chawner's addition to the Free(-ish) Fringe is a witty and charming account of the journey with his mental health, and how the rejection of typical masculinity fuelled his eating disorder in adolescence. Mental is, he says, a follow up to his previous show about mental illness; here he wants to focus on mental health. The two are frequently and frustratingly conflated, he ruminates.
Mental blurs that line frequently however, with Chawner talking extensively about his past experiences with anorexia, accompanied by a darkly funny anecdote about finding himself in hospital beside a builder with a saw injury. The show is at its best in moments like these, leveraging the dark humour Chawner wields so well.
Mental flits between hilarity and vulnerability, managing to be funny even in its hardest subject matter. Chawner is interactive and animated, involving the audience in a way that feels natural and which flows well with the material. The simple punchlines are often the best, and there's a subtly in many of the jokes that is skilfully managed. Sometimes the joke itself is the slow burn reaction in the audience. He makes working the crowd look easy, involving them in something deeply personal without it becoming uncomfortable.
Chawner appears at times almost nonchalant about offering up these painful experiences for laughs, but it's clear how difficult turning them into content for consumption and criticism is. He discusses how a particularly cruel review from a callous stranger contributed to a relapse a few years ago. When several people leave towards the beginning of the show, well-natured mocking turns into something that starts to feel genuinely personal. Given that the show came with a trigger warning in the beginning, it's not unexpected for people to leave throughout. That option should be freely available without judgement, whether that's their reason or not. Given this, I hope Chawner prioritises his own mental health during this run of shows (just don't tell him to breathe).
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