★★★★
Written and performed by Aaron Pang, Falling: A Disabled Love Story follows one man’s quest to find love. With a little help from the audience, he creates a Tinder profile, but he comes across a predicament: none of his photos show his cane or leg braces, the mobility tools he uses to move around safely.
While he has no problem with telling people why he uses these, he feels that omitting them feels almost like he is lying, but including them may make people not want to date him. It’s one of many points of consideration that Pang raises but does not find the answer to in this hour-long performance.
As both a storyteller and a performer, Pang is truly a joy to watch. He’s charismatic, and the audience warms to him instantly. He weaves themes and motifs through his work flawlessly, resulting in perfectly smooth transitions between different parts of his story. He is both naturally funny and informative, describing how he has limited proprioception and comparing his legs to “two drunk girls at the end of the night refusing to listen to their sober friend”.
Pang plays with the truth, blurring the facts between what’s real and fictional. As he does, he poses questions to us: why do we assume things based on what a person looks like? Why are we so desperate for all stories to be happy and inspirational, and finish with a happy ending, despite reality rarely being this way? We never know what the “real truth” is, but that’s okay: it is his truth, not ours, and he doesn’t owe it to us. Considering lots of fringe shows are based on traumatic personal experiences, this feels like a refreshing way to separate real life from the stage.
It almost feels like I’m writing half a review by not delving deeper into the plot—which is genius, trust me —however, it would be impossible to do so without ruining it. A deeply funny and poignant show, Falling: A Disabled Love Story is a must-see this Fringe.
Falling: A Disabled Love Story will be performed at Pleasance Courtyard – Bunker 2 until 25 August (not 6, 14) as part of Edinburgh Fringe.
Words by Ellen Leslie
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