Humorous one-man show fails to raise awareness of Type 1 diabetes

Keep calm, I'm only diabetic performed by Jonsel Gourkan at The Attic Theatre, Stratford upon Avon, Saturday 10 May 2025

Review by Charles Essex.

On entering The Attic’s intimate performance space, the audience is greeted with a wooden throne, a much-used prop in Tread the Board productions.  There was an occasional table with an eclectic mix of items: a syringe and vial; a bottle of Lucozade; a preloaded insulin injector; a finger prick blood tester and a stethoscope.  But as the theme of the evening’s performance was Type 1 diabetes, this was understandable.

Jonsel Gourkan bounced on to the stage, fortunately hyper as in hyperactive rather than hyperglycaemic, and remained so for most of the evening.  Jonsel, who has had Type 1 diabetes since he was 10 years old, told his life story to date with anecdotes and humour, and sometimes pathos.

With relatively little explanation of how he had come to terms with his diabetes as an adolescent. This is something that many teenagers with chronic health problems, whether diabetes or other conditions, struggle to do. To his credit he was not ashamed of his diabetes with his peers. However, having been on the fringe of professional football in the UK, when he went for a trial with a football team in Turkey, the land of his parents, he realised that it was wiser to keep schtum about his diabetes. The trial was very successful and he signed professional terms.

Before the first game however he became hypoglycaemic at the club as his blood sugar dropped significantly, and his condition became apparent. Contrary to his experience in the UK, his diabetes was considered a sickness and his contract was immediately terminated. This had a profound effect on him, as he was deeply hurt.  Episodes of hypoglycaemia became a recurring feature of his life, with resulting self-destructive behaviour leading to lost jobs, missed opportunities and even eviction from his flat.

Jonsel relates these incidents with humour, witty one-liners and over-the-top impersonations. He said he refused to let his diabetes define him, yet by having such poor diabetic control, it was defining and controlling him. Yet he had a remarkably varied career as member of a successful pop group and an actor. Peppering his narrative with name-drops, his descriptions of his relationships with and attitudes towards women, I felt, were misogynistic and demeaning, much to the amusement of the ‘lads’ in the audience. 

Curiously, even though these incidents kept happening, and knowing that he could have hypoglycaemic episodes that could catch him unawares, he did not appear to do sensible things like have glucose with him to be immediately available. His description of his previous behaviour - in this reviewer’s opinion, was narcissistic and immature. 

The complications of diabetes such as damage to the eyes and gangrene of the limbs are reduced significantly by good diabetic control. Although Jonsel was looking retrospectively, his on-line profile says he has addressed his behaviour to keep his diabetes under better control.  Like a number of comedians who use their medical condition as a source of humour for their performances, Jonsel delivered a humorous one-man show, but I did not leave feeling he had achieved his aim of “raising the awareness of Type 1 diabetes and smashing the stigma around it.”