As regards spectacles, I tend to fall into the ‘ Why bother, what’s the point?’ camp. Despite the benefits of glasses being very clearly outlined for me and having friends who are utterly terrified of my ‘squinting face’, I am convinced that blurry is the best way. Male-wearers can usually pull them off with a kind of knowing intellectualism, like they have just come from seeing a Godard film and are only trying them on for a knowing, intellectual laugh. Unfortunately, female wearers are saddled with the ‘Specsavers curse’, the sad sexing up of glasses over the past decade that hasn’t done anyone any good. For me, they will always be associated with my brief, but fairly unhappy stint, as a six-year old ‘pirate,’ complete with flesh-coloured eye-patch. You never quite forget the cruel echoes of childish triumph and Sonya Kelly, in Wheelchair on My Face, has heard them louder than most.
Kelly guides us adeptly through her myopic universe, from her tense confrontations with a behemoth of a blackboard to her sunglasses sessions with ABBA. As her sight problem is discovered she undergoes what may be a cosmetically painful transformation, but one that allows her to discover all manners of delightful things about the world around her. Like the perfect class pet is not only mean but also, truth be told, a bit of a minger.
It is testament to Kelly’s originality and talent that Wheelchair works as well as it does. The subject matter may seem slight, but Kelly and director Gina Moxley have invested it with such creative energy it ceases to matter. Kelly bounces around like a child after a birthday party, navigating an assault course that includes the Eye and Ear hospital and an endless number of the dreaded eye-charts. She is charismatic, likeable and makes for a very compelling storyteller. The story itself captures elegantly the euphoria and pathos that childhood can invoke and ends in a hugely triumphant moment that made me feel its never too late to join a Swedish super group.
In describing her problem with seeing small gestures, Kelly says ‘If I look at you and smile, there is a good chance you will smile back.’ Based on audience reaction to Wheelchair, Sonya Kelly no longer needs to settle for smiles.
Nicole Flattery
