Tamsin Shasha has bought her solo show to Summerhall Arts this year at the Edinburgh Fringe. The performance combines pole work, singing, dramatic and comic acting, and storytelling in a chaotic manner in which someone’s brain operates with ADHD.
Much of the pole work represents Shasha love of swimming and giving the audience the illusion that she’s swimming freely to escape the “battles” at home with her son Troy, who is autistic.
There’s a lot to take in watching Forgive Me as she battles with the NHS who are throwing into the mix different diagnosis for her son but nothing practical to help her navigate the difficult situation she is in. The chaotic way she delivers her story and the frustrations around trying to communicate with each other.
The powerful verbatim production is both brave and educational. Brave in the sense that she is openly sharing her soul and admitting her failings, which aren’t a failure she recognised that the “normal” whatever that is routes to communicate with Troy aren’t going to work. So she faces herself and her new diagnosis head on to reach a new way in which they can reach each other.
Mother and son learn to communicate from a different angle, both having to understand one another, and Shasha works hard to find a common ground to reach him on.
However, Troy has been more aware of her ADHD than she realised. He sounds like a very special human who is going to be just fine.
Being in a similar position it is hard at times. Navigating unspoken paths and moving away from the one size fits all parenting skills. Learning to understand that your child doesn’t follow the regular textbook model! The reality is, nor should they.
This isn’t just a production about personal struggle. This is a play about learning and understanding yourself first to understand others no matter how old you are. The underlying theme throughout the play is a Mothers love for her child who is trying her best despite the odds being stacked on a slant.
For more information about Forgive Me and other productions across Edinburgh Fringe, please use the link below.
Five Stars
Theatre, Art and Film Reviews 
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