Make ‘em laugh

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/09/2017 (2946 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

At its best, comedy provokes. It challenges our assumptions and makes us consider different perspectives.

It can also help us heal, Dianna Rasing said.

Rasing, an Earl Grey resident, is a featured performer at Sarasvàti Productions’ FemFest 2017. Running from Sept. 16 to 23, FemFest is a national festival celebrating women theatre artists. Rasing is part of the lineup for the opening cabaret and reception at the University of Winnipeg’s Asper Centre for Theatre and Film (400 Colony St.) Curtain time on Sept. 16 is 7 p.m.

Life threw Rasing a curveball last November. While swimming one day, the 39-year-old mother of two had a stroke.

“I thought ‘I’m healthy, I’m fit,’” Rasing recalled. “I exercise daily.”

Rasing lives with a type of lupus that affects the brain, and that is what caused the stroke, she explained. Following the stroke, she spent two weeks in the hospital and two months at Riverview Health Centre. With time on her hands, Rasing decided to chronicle her experience.

“I got into the groove of writing things down as they were happening,” Rasing said. “There was lots of weird stuff going on that you have to make fun of or you’d be super depressed.”

Rasing shared her impressions with some friends who visited her in Riverview and they said she had the makings of a good comedy routine.

“I was going to do burlesque, but instead of throwing off my cane and getting out of my wheelchair I’ll tell jokes,” Rasing said. “I make fun of all that went on there and what happened. Basically I tell the whole story of the stroke and recovery process.”

The experience provided Rasing with material from the first moment, she said.

“I think I brought it on myself because as I was swimming I was literally thinking ‘stroke, stroke’, and it kind of goes from there.”

Rehabilitation had its moments too.

“It’s 1950s rehab basically,” Rasing explained. “You walk around the rehab centre with an empty laundry basket and they’re clapping, and I’m like ‘Yay I can go home and do laundry’.”

While some will think subjects like medical issues should be immune from comedic scrutiny, Rasing disagrees, because she has personally experienced the benefits of that introspection.

“I think its really easy when we are going through a tragedy to focus on the negative,” Rasing said. “I think the comedic side of things helps us get through it better. It’s therapy for a lot of people.

“I went to a comedy class and it really helped me. It makes you look at the world differently. You find the funny things. It’s like seeing the positive in things and training your mind to look at things in a different way.”

Tickets for opening night are $15 and can be purchased at http://sarasvati.ca/femfest/.