The lady in ‘RED’ taking the world by storm
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Exploring one woman’s journey with endometriosis, illness and recovery, Canberra’s own Liz Lea is back on tour with her one-woman show RED. Next stop? Edinburgh!
After a 2.5 year halt in her RED tour, Liz is back, better than ever, and this time, she’s in Scotland for the 75th Edinburgh Fringe Festival – which features over 55,000 artists.
Originally on her RED tour in the UK when the COVID-19 pandemic struck, Liz was back in Canberra by the time the lockdown hit in 2020—and as we now know too well the temporary closure of borders would stretch on longer than anyone would have guessed.
“It was a terribly, terribly, terribly difficult time… You end up in Canberra, just gasping for breath, wondering what’s going to happen.” Liz says, in reference to her tour halt.
She was one of many artists who suddenly found themselves with lots of spare time each day, without much to fill it.
And while she tried to rehearse, every time practices for RED were paused during the various lockdowns Canberra fell into. Liz did, however, perform at the Canberra Theatre Centre as part of their On Demand On Screen festival.
According to Liz, “It’s been really quite emotional getting on a plane again, after all this time, to go back and do this festival which was postponed—or cancelled—twice.”
RED was inspired by the large impact endometriosis has had on Liz’s life. Diagnosed at 40, Liz has suffered with pain for over 35 years and had gone through a plethora of doctors until her final diagnosis.
Endometriosis takes (on average) approximately 7 to10 years to be properly diagnosed in a patient after initial symptoms begin. Liz hopes her performance will change how people approach the topic of endometriosis—be it taking themselves (or family members) to be checked or building a level of empathetic relatability between herself and those who have been in similar situations.
“One of the tricky things is, we don’t know the cause or the cure, and the issues are outgoing… When people hear they might have it, there’s a terrible sense of fear. And the reality is, the sooner you can get it treated, the better. Hopefully a show like this makes people go ‘okay, I’ll just go and get myself sorted’, rather than leave it.”
Liz required a bowel reconstruction after being diagnosed with endometriosis—which she thinks was due to leaving it unchecked for so long – and hopes her audience does not share the same experience.
Last year, she had a hysterectomy after discovering it had entered her bowels once more.
This year, she will be performing 12 shows in Edinburgh before heading down to London for a few days.
“It’s like every moment is precious,” she says. “There’s something really poignant, I think, had lockdown only happened for six months we would’ve moved on really quickly, but given the impacts, and the impact of travel, for me, it’s been two and a half years….you’re deeply appreciative of all the little things.”
For more information about Liz or RED visit her website at lizleadance.com.
Photo credits to Alison Laird and Lorna Sim.
