WHEN women on the island of Eigg chartered a boat to attend their breast screening appointments on the mainland it was quickly dubbed the Boob Cruise.
Amusement over the fact they had turned an intimate and often fraught experience into a girls’ day out with craic, cake, coffee and sometimes something stronger, sparked the idea that the subject could be turned into a humorous play with a serious message.
Now a crowdfunder has been started to stage a rehearsed reading of a draft script, which has raised more than half its target within days of being launched.
The reading will help the team behind the play make sure the message is not misleading and the humour works.
A final script will then be written, and funding sought to bring Boob Cruise to stages big and small across Scotland.
Already touted as Eigg’s Calendar Girls – the international hit about breast cancer – the play is the brainchild of islander Lucy Conway who, at age 59, has made a couple of trips on the real-life Boob Cruise to Mallaig for breast screening.
Before chartering the boat, the women were forced to stay at least one night on the mainland in order to attend appointments because of the infrequent ferry service. It was then realised that a boat chartered for the hour-long sea crossing would just involve a day trip, save a lot of expense and also mean that more women might attend their screenings.
“It became known as the Boob Cruise and as time went on my friend and fellow islander Sue joked it would make a great play,” said Conway, whose background is in theatre.
She put forward a proposal to the National Theatre of Scotland and, with support from their Starter for Ten programme, approached theatre makers Euan Martin and Dave Smith of Right Lines, whose previous productions have included Who Bares Wins.
Martin said his initial reaction was to laugh out loud as he wondered if she was suggesting they “chart a course into the murky waters of adult entertainment”.
Looking into it further, the pair agreed the idea of a community of women heading off together in a small boat for their mammogram appointments had the potential for the mix of humour and pathos that is a trademark of their shows.
The initial idea was to write a comedy to encourage women to take up their screening offer.
However, as the NHS points out in the leaflet that every woman is sent along with her appointment letter, for every person whose life is saved by breast screening, around three are diagnosed and offered treatment for a cancer that would never have become life threatening.
“The NHS sends the leaflet for a reason – they want everyone to understand the risks and benefits,” said Conway. “What we want people to do is engage with those ideas and find out more about it.”
While the message is serious, she is quick to point out that the play is a comedy. “It is a bit of a romp, a bit of a belly laugh but it rings true with people,” Conway said. “It’s in the kind of world of The Steamie – it is a good laugh with people you feel like you know and recognise and hopefully it will make people think but not go home and worry.”
Conway is delighted with the script that has been produced and believes it will resonate with audiences throughout Scotland. “It isn’t a play about Eigg,” she said.
“Boob Cruise is about the journey all women aged 50 to 70 make from their breast screening invitation to getting their results. Usually it’s a journey made alone – get invite, turn up, have boobs squashed and go. Most women are given the all-clear. But there’s a niggling feeling that those minutes spent having your breasts squished could mean life won’t ever be the same again. What happens then?
“In Boob Cruise, our women are literally in the same boat, a unique and believable setting for the screen-or-not-screen decision to be shared together.”
If the crowdfunder reaches its modest target of £2500, the rehearsed reading with seven well-known Scottish actors (six women and the boatman) will be held on October 1 with health professionals among the audience, followed by a Q&A session.
“For Boob Cruise we want to be sure that in using humour to explore this sensitive and personal decision, we’ve got the balance right,” said Conway.
“We also need to be sure we’re not misleading people; these are important decisions, and we need to get the facts and science right.”
To support the production effort, visit crowdfunder.co.uk/boob-cruise-a-breast-cancer-screening-comedy
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