Lana Schwarz is a breast cancer survivor and she’s at the Calgary Fringe Festival to talk about it. All of it. In her show Lovely Lady Lump, Lana details her experience with cancer and the audience gets up close and personal. The play is funny and heartfelt but could use with a bit of smoothing over. It runs a little choppy at times but is definitely a story worth hearing.
Schwarz spends a large portion of the show without a top on, but it isn’t for shock value. The story is told with a technical projection design and sound design which adds wonders to the show, as it really illustrates the emotional and stressful process of getting diagnosed with cancer. The narrative is a mix of jokes and stories and even some shadow puppets.
Schwarz is charming and funny but the thing that is very clear about Lovely Lady Lump is that Schwarz is incredibly brave. She tells a story that most people don’t really want to hear because cancer is that thing that happens to other people. It takes a lot of nerve to get up in front of a large group of people and talk about this very personal health issue and people should witness this fierce act of courage. Go for the touching moments, stay for cancer doing stand up comedy.
Lovely Lady Lump is part of the Calgary Fringe Festival. There are two more performances in the festival. More information is available online.