As a young woman who has also been knocked off my bike by a car, it seemed particularly apt that I go and see Look No Hands, Lila Clement’s solo show about the emotional aftermath of a bike accident she experienced in 2010. The show follows the story of Vee, a cyclist who wakes up in hospital with amnesia and no clue as to how she got there, as she tries to piece together what happened and navigate the journey of her life after.
The play moved between three layers; Vee’s childhood recollections, the accident and what happened after, and the here and now, all smoothly and cleverly transitioned between with the use of lighting, sound and props. The most striking prop upon entering the theatre was a stationary bicycle centre stage. What first appeared to be simply a stationary object quickly became integral to the play and in transporting us to Vee’s different memories as it could be moved, twisted and turned acting as a visual aid in Clement’s storytelling and helping to evoke emotion and engagement from the audience. In one of the early scenes in the show in which Clements revisits the crash, she flings the bike up, suspending it upright in the air, and pushes the handlebars to one side so the wheel was facing the left side of the stage - distorting it in such a way that the scene became quite difficult to watch, as I couldn't help but imagine the distortion of not just the bike but also of Vee’s body as she described being flown across the air upon impact.
The clever use of props to transform a scene was accompanied by Clement’s use of physicality. Although it was a solo show Clements managed to switch between characters instantaneously (the lawyers in the courtroom, doctors and the people who stayed with her as she lay in the street nearly unconscious), changing her tone of voice, body language and use of space, which made it feel as though you were watching a production with a cast of three or four instead of just one.
As well as the detailed intimate personal account of the accident, the court case and bike rides with her father that fostered a childhood love of cycling, the piece also explored the female cycling experience, touching on harassment, and Post Traumatic Growth (PTG), the idea that trauma can often be the catalyst for positive change and growth. Despite Vee (or Lila) having experienced a traumatic injury, suffering a broken clavicle, her favourite clothing cut and the bizarreness of seeing herself on the national television programme 24 Hours in A&E, the fact that she could have died but didn’t, suddenly transformed her entire perspective on life. She felt invincible, euphoric and with a fresh sense of purpose.
Clement’s delivery as the narrator of this story was warm and engaging and I particularly appreciated how she sprinkled comedy throughout, making even the darker scenes, at times, incredible funny. A highlight of mine, and the audiences, was when she awoke in a room in A&E with a doctors finger up her bum and exclaimed ‘have we met before?’.
Look No Hands is an uplifting story of hope and overcoming adversity. Clements is an endearing storyteller and we are invited to share her experience and witness the reclaiming of her story, which we are seeing not in a police report or court statement but through the play that she is delivering. An exciting piece of theatre that really and truly shows that what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger.