‘Chronic’ by Catherine Bensley

What do we do with our pain? What do we let it do to us, what does it take from us, and what might we in turn take from it? These questions are at the heart of Catherine Bensley’s remarkable one-woman musical Chronic.

Unfolding over the course of an hour, on a single set representing a shabby, lived-in bedroom, Chronic takes us on a young woman’s years-long journey from standard, quotidian twentysomething concerns into the murky world of chronic pain, medical misdiagnosis, and the agonies – physical and mental – that accompany this ordeal.

Did I mention that it’s funny? Like, properly funny? Chronic’s subject matter (life with chronic pain, the frustrations of battling gender bias and medical bureaucracy while fighting to secure a diagnosis) would have naturally lent itself to a pretty gruelling wallow. But Bensley wisely tempers this side of the show with an energy and wit, making full use of her naturally engaging stage presence. From the moment she stumbles onto stage, all a-flutter having just returned from an energising holiday, she brings a disarming, fast-talking candour and slightly chaotic charm that makes the audience more than willing to go along for the ride.

We hear occasional voice messages and phone calls, but this is very much Bensley’s show, and nowhere is this clearer than in Chronic’s songs. Accompanied by a trio of musicians, Bensley shows astonishing range and dynamism, drawing the audience in with a quiet introspective ballad one minute and blowing our hair back the next as she gives full voice to her confusion, anger and hope. Given that the show is autobiographical, the songs have an added degree of poignance and impact – they are clearly being sung from a place of true experience. This impossible-to-fake emotional realness makes the most moving moments hit home. Bensley’s song-writing and singing are equally impressive, shot through with self-deprecating humour but not afraid to drop the jokes when the song calls for it, from the soul-baring yearning of ‘Happiness’ to the gospel-tinged rabble rouser ‘Life Is Tough (and So Are You).’

Although Chronic’s narrative is in some ways inconclusive – mirroring Bensley’s own lack of resolution to her ongoing search for a medical diagnosis – one is nevertheless left with a feeling of deep satisfaction. This derives from the show’s very existence, the fact that its creator had the perseverance and courage to bring it to the stage in the first place. It’s an auspicious and audacious debut, one that marks Bensley as a talent to watch.