A Play About the Joys of autoimmune disease by Dominic Hoey

After a sold out debut season in 2017, Dominic ‘Tourettes’ Hoey will be bringing his original autobiographical theatre piece ‘Your Heart Looks Like A Vagina’ back for a return season at The Basement Theatre in Auckland and to Wellington’s BATS Theatre in April.

The Show

'Your Heart Looks Like A Vagina’ is a one man show that will bring together Dominic Hoey’s long career as a performance poet and writer and the experimental theatre experience of Director Nisha Madhan into the tale of Dominic’s real life journey from developing Ankylosing Spondylitis (a rare form of arthritis) while overseas, coming home to New Zealand to be bedridden for six months, navigating the bureaucracy of the healthcare and welfare system, and the struggle to regain control of his life, all the while continuing to pursue his career as a poet, rapper, musician, filmmaker, author, political provocateur and arts mentor.

As much as this is a story of Dominic’s life, the show will also look to raise awareness around Ankylosing Spondylitis, a rare form of arthritis that fuses together the spine and effects thousands of New Zealanders, and raise questions around the inherent issues within the healthcare system in New Zealand to support people suffering chronic illnesses This play explores the harsh realities of living with a chronic illness, the absurdities and politics of the healthcare and welfare system, and the dogged determination needed to make it as an artist in New Zealand. And it’ll be funny too.

The Team

Dominic Hoey has long performed under the moniker ‘Tourettes’ as a performance poet, rapper and now author and after the sell out debut season of ‘Your Heart Looks Like A Vagina’ this show will be a further development of his new work in the world of theatre. He has previously released five studio albums to critical acclaim, has performed and has been published all over the world and his debut novel ‘Iceland’ is currently on the long list for the fiction novel of the year in the New Zealand Book Awards .

On “Your Heart Looks Like a Vagina’, Dominic says:
“I wanted to do a theatre show to bring together all the skills I have learnt performing around the world as both a rapper and poet and acquire some new ones. It's also important to me to raise awareness of autoimmune diseases and try and get rid of a lot of the stigma around them.”

Director Nisha Madhan is the artistic director of theatre company The Town Centre and has continued her extensive work in experimental theatre last year with her direction of ‘Power Ballad’, winner of best show in the 2017 Auckland Fringe Festival and nominated for the TOTAL Theatre Award at Edinburgh Fringe. Nisha will be bringing her extensive knowledge and practise of experimental theatre to challenge Dominic to perform a show unlike any of his others. Particularly her interest in the audience experience will be brought to the fore in the development of Dominic’s performance.

Dominic will also be joined on stage by lighting designer and operator Ruby Reihana-Wilson, who herself is very familiar with the tribulations of navigating the healthcare system and suffers from a similar condition to Dominic.

Normally
a hero behind the scenes, Ruby will be front and centre and a big part of this story.

YOUR HEART LOOKS LIKE A VAGINA

A PLAY BY DOMINIC ‘TOURETTES’ HOEY

THE BASEMENT THEATRE - AUCKLAND - 10-14 APRIL

BATS THEATRE - WELLINGTON - 17-21 APRIL

Your Heart Looks Like A Vagina

April 17-21st 2018 - 6:30pm

The Heyday Dome at BATS Theatre, Wellington

Tickets available via www.bats.co.nz

Your Heart Looks Like A Vagina

April 10-14th 2018 - 8:00pm

The Basement Theatre

Lower Greys Ave, Auckland

Tickets available via iticket.co.nz

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