Near the end of Susan Galloway’s one-woman show about her journey with breast cancer, she regaled the May 5 audience at the Nancy Appleby Theatre with all the things the disease could not take from her.
“It cannot shatter my hope. It cannot corrode my faith. It cannot destroy my dreams. It cannot kill my friendships. It cannot silence my memories,” Galloway said during the performance. “My mammaries, maybe.”
That kind of positivity and humour were central to Galloway’s journey with breast cancer as well as her production The Young and the Breastless, which played at the theatre May 5-6.
The show tells the story of how Galloway's experiences with breast cancer, from discovering a lump on her breast in 2015, to her mastectomy, to life between and after her treatments. The show sold 247 tickets across its two performances in Athabasca, according to show promoter Melissa Kuzyk.
The production was filled with comedy and musical moments, as well as dozens of breast-related puns. But the show also had Galloway delivering some serious monologues about living with breast cancer.
Galloway said she was happy with the audience response to both the humorous and more serious portions of the production.
“I was excited to hear them laughing in the spots I was hoping they would laugh,” Galloway said in an interview after the May 5 show. “I could tell in the serious moments, the silence let me know they were listening and it was reaching them.”
Galloway said she wanted to take her story to the stage to share a positive message to the people dealing with all kinds of illnesses.
"This is a story about the spirit and it’s about being able to get through adversity," Galloway said. "If I could just help people to find a way for themselves to find positivity in every situation, it would make life so much easier for so many people.”
The Athabasca shows were the premiere of the production, which Galloway co-wrote alongside director Bruno Wiskel. She said she wanted to premiere it in Athabasca because it has been her home community since 2006.
“They are a very supportive community. They supported me throughout my cancer, through any adversity I’ve been in,” Galloway said.
Athabasca local Faye McMillan attended the May 5 performance and said the show was very inspirational, especially towards women dealing with breast cancer.
“For women who go in with it (breast cancer), being positive about what their outcome might be, it has to be very inspirational,” McMillan said. “I think it’s important for women to know that it’s not the end of their beauty or their worth or anything else.”
Galloway said she plans to take the show on the road and look for opportunities to play it in Edmonton and Winnipeg, where she is from.
“It’s healing through humour,” Galloway said about her show. “It’s okay to laugh about the sad stuff."
