The title of Sonny Howes’ touching and very funny mashup of monologue, verse, and a song, The Benefits of Disabled Sex, is a tad disingenuous. The 55-minute show, currently playing at The King’s Head theatre, is mostly not about sex. It is about what happens when a teenage boy loses the use of his legs, overnight. Given that the preoccupations of many adolescent boys tend to revolve around football, computer games, Nike trainers and sex (not necessarily in that order) the subject of bonking certainly comes up. A reflection of the mechanics of masturbation in a wheelchair opens the show (not as easy as you might think, apparently) but that is about as fruity as it gets.
Stand-up comedian Howes describes his show as semi-autobiographical. Some comedians choose scripted monologue over stand-up because it facilitates a greater sense of separation between the performer and their dramatic creation. That may or may not be the case here, but it does feel like incidents and events in the life of the character Howes labels, The Boy, have been elided for dramatic effect. That said, the work has a rawness and honesty about the impact of sudden disability that is palpable. The Boy became, in the writer’s own estimation, not a nice person.
No longer able to do much for himself, objectified as disabled by former buddies, and reliant on a long-suffering mother for many of his needs, The Boy’s anger spits off in every direction. Sometimes The Benefits of Disabled Sex feels like an apologia to erstwhile friends and ever-forgiving family, and you can see why. He alienates best-friend Amy with crass jokes about her eating disorder. He orders pizza when his mum has spent a day cooking. His dad has learnt to walk away from the endless arguments he sparks. It is only when he asks an alluring school acquaintance called Cassie out on a date, that her response brings home to him quite what an unattractive person he has become.
It took Howes many years to learn how to walk again and the trauma of growing up disabled has certainly left its mark on the man. But there is nothing remotely self-indulgent or self-pitying about this story. Ultimately it is about hope and survival. It is funny too. A demonstration of how to perform a sexualised swagger in a wheelchair is worth the trip to The King’s Head alone. Recommended.
13 September 2022
Duration: 55 minutes
This Review First Appeared in The Reviews Hub
Writer: Sonny Howes
Director: Uri Roodner
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