I directed a short film called Ethan’s Story: Hockey, Guts and Diabetes. Ethan is quite inspiring. Have a look…[youtube] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjthvKr0YkU[/youtube]
Collected Reviews!
“….Best Solo Male Comedy”
San Francisco Fringe Festival
“….a brilliant and funny show. An inspiring piece of theatre.”
Carole Wears, Prague International Fringe Festival
“Norm vs. Cancer takes us on a roller coaster of rollicking good fun to deep despair. It is the most unusual and stirring portrayal of someone’s fight against cancer that I have ever seen. It is entertaining, enlightening and inspiring. Bravo!”
Robert Fletcher, Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care
“…One man’s battle with cancer turns into a triumph for all who are privileged to witness Robert Hawke’s fearless, funny, moving, and amazingly virtuoso performance. Are you ready to meet your body?”
Steve Turtell, Development Manager, THANC Foundation
“…a refreshing and remarkably humorous look at a very serious topic….Robert Hawke is an incredibly talented writer and actor… his one-man show pulls off the seemingly impossible – showing amazing raw talent. I laughed for an hour – on a subject which previously only brought tears… “
Erika Rauscher Markowitz, Executive Director, THANC (Thyroid, Head and Neck Cancer) Foundation
“Watching Robert Hawke’s Laughing in the Face of Cancer was not only hilarious, but it helped to break down barriers of isolation by allowing the room to laugh and appreciate the shared experience of illness. Being able to laugh at something that can be so traumatic and draining, was empowering and set the tone for the rest of the day.’
Nicole Foster, Ovarian Cancer Canada
“This compelling tour inside Norm’s body brought to life his personal struggle with accepting and then dealing with cancer. But what was most amazing was the way that Rob Hawke used humor to guide us through a fearful journey that resulted in hope for us all. NormVsCancer brought tears to my eyes from laughter and inspiration – a must see!”
Harvey A. Skinner, Dean, Faculty of Health, York University
These reviews are for NormVsCancer
Performed by Robert Hawke. Directed by Michael Cohen.
Written by Robert Hawke and Michael Cohen
Latest Review for you!
Hey Everybody,
I just did a performance of Laughing In The Face of Cancer for Ovarian Cancer Canada Toronto General Hospital. Here is the review..
Watching Robert Hawke’s Laughing in the Face of Cancer was not only hilarious, but it helped to break down barriers of isolation by allowing the room to laugh and appreciate the shared experience of illness. Being able to laugh at something that can be so traumatic and draining, was empowering and set the tone for the rest of the day.’
Nicole Foster, Ovarian Canada,
Doing the show was an absolute ball. I went on at 10:30 am. all hail the glorious power of caffeine! Hope wherever you are that you are having a tremendous day
Rob
Sizzle Reel for NormVsCancer
Here are highlights from NormVsCancer: A Terminally Funny One Man Show that has been performed for cancer patients, their families, physicians, nurses, nursing students, medical students and allied health.
Co-created with my good friend Michael Cohen. Its always a blast to perform.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9sV4qIMFBI&feature=relmfu[/youtube]
Survivorship Day
It was an absolute blast to be a part of survivorship day at ELLICSR http://www.ellicsr.ca/ . ELLICSR is a tremendous place at Toronto General Hospital where people going through cancer and their families can come for support and education. On Monday, we had our biggest event of the year. We honoured the memory of Dr. Robert Buckman who did so much tremendous work in helping found the centre, and happened to work with Monty Python. (This impresses the crap out of me). He did great stuff on health with Terry Jones that is available on The YouTUBE… here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euejFE0uSzU
I was absolutely thrilled to be part of a panel with Dr. Brian Goldman, Dietitian Christy Brissette, Laura Adams of the Rhode Island Quality Institute and Dr. Alex Jadad who just generally rocks. There were well over 100 people there all sharing stories about what it was like to go through cancer and helping each other by sharing resources to help make the journey easier. It was a very inspiring day with cooking demonstrations by Chef Jeremy Capone, art demonstrations by folks from Art4Cancer and I was thrilled to be able to present my workshop Laughing In The Face Of Cancer.
It was remarkable to meet so many amazing, generous and positive folks.
There are awesome fun pictures somewhere on a disk. When I get them, I’ll pass them along. Hope all is good with all of you.
Rob
Laughing in the Face of Cancer
I was very fortunate over the weekend to meet some wonderful people at Thyroid Cancer Canada. There were well over 100 people at the conference here in Toronto. I was absently honored to perform Laughing In The Face Of Cancer for them. It was an absolute blast. Rita Banach was honored for her incredible work in being instrumental in creating the organization that has helped so many people in the last few years.
It’s always amazing to me and so much fun to be able to lighten the mood of the room and to help people laugh about something that concerns them so much. As always, performing in the morning is a blast because I get to drink too much coffee and eat too many danishes so I can burn it off during the rest of the day.
It was really nice that Rita gave me this quote,
“How delightful to push back at thyroid cancer through the bright wit of Rob Hawke. The light-hearted humour of Norm vs Cancer engages us in the twists & turns of a comedic mind using body imagery to literally send us on a new kind of cancer journey.”
Rita Banach, President, Thyroid Cancer Canada
My very good pal and a creative force in his own right, Mr. Gord Oxley is coming over today to show me some new fancy digital visual effects that I’m going to be able to use during live performances. Hopefully we’ll be able to project images to create more of a theatrical atmosphere in places like conference rooms. This is really exciting because it would allow presentations to be much more theatrical in nature and even more audience friendly. Hopefully this will work out. I’ll let you know how it goes. Wherever you are, and whatever your story is, I hope you’re having a great day.