Reacharounds For The Soul was Jeff Hewitt’s show that illustrated his experiences with depression. Jeff detailed the events that triggered his condition, the treatments he sought and his success in keeping it at bay.
In keeping with the shows’ theme the pacing was somewhat slow and deliberate as you would hardly expect a high energy performance. Jeff went into great detail about what he went through emotionally and the clinical processes he went through in his battle, often focusing on the amusing little things of the larger story. The material was often a considerable chunk of serious facts broken up with the odd humorous analogy or observation, which worked well with his laid back presentation style; zingy one liners certainly didn’t have a place here. Some of his stories often seemed unlikely to lead to a humorous punchline, but his way of weaving just the right amount of lightness into the tales made them palatable. Just as you settled into the rhythm of the show, Jeff turned it on its head with some silly and bizzare segments that slotted into the show under the guise of illustrating serious points. In particular, the strange musical segment was performed completely straight to great comedic effect.
There were a couple of extremely silly video pieces that made light of some aspects of his emotional journey. One was a mix of the ‘Funniest Home Video Show’ and a certain crass stunt show (nodded to at the conclusion) which was unfortunately funnier to the participants than the audience. The other illustrated a relationship break up that built upon a stage stunt to milk it for crass laughs that bordered on the disturbing. These generated the biggest responses of the show; it was as if Jeff allowed the audience to have a release from the weighty portion of the show.
In stark contrast were the quite sombre and sentimental videos which bookended the lunacy. They were dedicated to loved ones who had passed on, events which he connected to his condition in some way. One was a tribute that featured clips and stills of the people who helped him in his darkest days and gave him a reason to soldier on. This delightful, albeit serious, sequence included an on screen caption that stated “I don’t care that this is too sentimental” so it was clearly an integral part of the show.
Jeff did a great job in exploring a difficult and serious subject to make it accessible and humourous.
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