Firstly, the title. Writer and performer Gabrielle Leonore borrows the term “inspirational porn” from the late comedian Stella Young to refer to a societal tendency to package disability as something exceptional. As something to transform into sentimental montages of footballers high-fiving kids in wheelchairs, a girl with Down’s syndrome e.g., going to prom, or someone with autism winning a community achievement award (sans any particular community achievement).
It’s a concept Leonore applies to her own life, as an autistic woman cultivating a creative career. Diagnosed at a supremely young age, My Life as An “Inspirational P*rn” Star is a highly autobiographical show narrating Leonore’s experience of being a) hot, and b) neurodivergent, from birth to present day. For the duration of the performance, she is dressed in a burlesque-style outfit accompanied by a powerpoint, a martini glass of indeterminate clear liquid, an Old Hollywood vanity, and the occasional absolute banger (Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘brutal’, to be specific).
Leonore is an incredibly charming and engaging performer — for an hour-long one-woman show with virtually no breaks in dialogue, she holds the audience’s attention in the palm of her hand for the entire span. The dialogue, too, is heartfelt and intelligent, delivered with a sort of polished rage — you get the feeling Leonore is well-accustomed to turning her anger into art, but the raw feelings still push through to the surface. Primarily, however, it’s still a very funny show: her script is peppered with marvellous one-liners. There’s the excellent double-entendre about being part of the “high functioning CAMP”, and a fabulous description of her finely-honed masking skills: “I am the Daniel Day Lewis of… existing”.
There are, of course, moments of more overt emotion — a particularly touching segment finds Leonore discussing her potential inability to ever pass as wholly neurotypical. She describes the “uncanny valley” others are able to identify within her, a particularly striking turn of phrasing that stuck with me after the performance came to a close. And come to a spectacular close, it did: My Life as An “Inspirational P*rn” Star ends with a surprisingly meta bit of commentary, with Leonore calling out the audience’s complicity in this particular bit of Edinburgh Fringe inspiration porn. “Where is she today?”, Leonore asks, referring to herself in the third person, as we watch her up on stage having just summarised her life story for our entertainment value. Makes you think!
My Life as An “Inspirational P*rn” Star! is running until 11 August at Just the Snifter Room at Just The Tonic at The Mash House.
Buy tickets here.
Image courtesy of Gabrielle Leonore, provided to The Student as press material.