A group of office workers are each hiding something about their lives in Si Rawlinson’s new stage show Saving Face. There’s the office manager struggling with the demands of her position; the man who has a strained relationship with his father and becomes his caregiver; a woman with OCD who desperately tries to hide her compulsions from colleagues.
Rawlinson, 36, has an autoimmune condition that means he is allergic to most food, and needs regular treatment. His experience of living with this chronic invisible illness inspired the character he plays. “Maybe he works well, sometimes he’s bad at his job, and I want it to be like, ‘Is he bad at his job because he’s ill? Or is he just bad at his job?’” explains Rawlinson. “How much do you make yourself accountable for the things in your life? How much is the result of the situation you’ve been put in?”
