Inspired by a book of letters and stories left to him by his late father, titled ‘For Jacob’, Stop Trying To Look At My D**k! is an autobiographical dark comedy of Jacob Grunberger’s adolescence. Through anecdotes and rap music, Jacob tells the story of the sudden death of his Jewish father when he was a child and a peripatetic childhood through Scotland and Essex as he and his mother struggled to keep afloat. As a reflection of life, Jacob creates a space to honor his father and his experience of grief, identity, and vulnerability. We spoke to Jacob about the show.
Tell us about you and your work.
I was born and raised in London, mostly in east London but I have been around. This work is an autobiographical exploration of grief through comedy and rap music that was birthed from my creative dissertation while studying for my MA at Mountview. If you want to know mor about me come along to Canal Café theatre and you can get the full story there.
How do you approach the challenge of recounting such personal experiences?
I think because I have grown a lot since a lot of the experiences I am talking about. I have done almost every therapeutic technique you can imagine to overcome a lot of the challenges I faced as a younger person. I think time has been the best healer alongside talking to my friends who have had similar experiences, I am very thankful for them.
Your play incorporates anecdotes from your childhood and your experiences with grief. Are there any particular memories or stories that are especially interesting to revisit on stage?
I think one that stands out is an incident that happened with my French teacher where she implied that it was impossible to have a family of only two people but at that time it was just me and my mum. It is a funny moment in the piece but at the time it was really troubling for me. I love the fact that a difficult memory has become a moment of comic relief.
As both the writer and performer of your one-man show, what is the most rewarding aspect of bringing your vision to life?
I think seeing the journey from start to finish, typing words on a keyboard for hours and then performing them out loud in a theatre in front of an audience is actually surreal. I am also in love with the rehearsal process, finding new moments that work out of nowhere feels like such a gift.
How do you believe your experiences can resonate with audiences from different backgrounds, and what universal truths do you hope they will connect with?
I think grief unfortunately is one of the only universal truths of being human actually. I can only talk of my own experiences with it and how it manifested itself in my life, the ways in which I coped (or didn’t). I hope that people can connect with the understanding that you can grow from these experiences and that it is okay to embrace the pain of them as well.
What do you love about performing?
I love that I can give something to people by doing what I love to do, what an exchange that is.
Stop Trying To Look At My D**k! plays at Canal Café Theatre from the 13th May – 1st June. Tickets available here: https://canalcafetheatre.com/our-shows/dk/
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