The Duncan Brothers, the clown comedy duo known for their shows Legs, Logs and Jeremy Segway, presented their most personal show yet, Blood Sword, at the Edinburgh Fringe in August 2024. Diagnosed with haemochromatosis, a genetic condition that causes iron to build to dangerously high levels within the blood, Andy and Rob theatrically recount their experiences in a show that is part autobiography, part medieval fantasy.

Why Blood Sword?

“It’s like it’s ready to be made—with the mythology surrounding the condition,” Andy says, connecting ‘the Celtic Curse’, to the “rich folklore of Northern Ireland and Scotland.”

“We are in dream world with it,” Rob adds, “imagining medieval warriors with it and asking why did this gene stick around… it’s not accurate to a Celtic folklore but a fantasy of that.”

When the brothers started venesection, the treatment for haemochromatosis, their blood had to be disposed of due to its high iron content, which rendered it unusable. They thought instead, what if it could be made into something more useful; what if they could turn all that iron into a sword.

“We could not actually make our own sword… they wouldn’t let me take my blood home,” Rob jokes, but the brothers are able to mould their iron overload into a hilarious and affecting show about sharing the condition and its Celtic legacy.

How did you find out about haemochromatosis?

“Our dad was having some medical issues and was sent for a genetic test,” Rob recalls. “He is a carrier and he told us to get tested. We have another brother who didn’t have it, but we did. I looked online to find out what it was all about.”

“It’s a scary thing to find out,” Andy says, “especially when you look online and realise how serious it can get down the line.”

“Bloodletting [venesection] is an adjustment but it’s not a health risk,” Andy adds reassuringly.

How is Blood Sword different to your other shows?

“Our other shows have been absurd comedy—this is our most personal one,” Andy says. “[It’s] a partially true account of how we discovered it, and our strange way of processing it.”

Where does comedy play a role in dealing with serious issues?

Talking about combining serious content with comedy, Rob says, “There’s a sudden left turn in the show where we give lots of information about the condition and it’s a funny contrast—comedy is such a great way of dealing with real-life things.”

Rob continues, “Our previous shows, Legs—which was an hour about legs, Logs—which was an hour about logs, and Jeremy Segway, were all very absurd shows… Because we are trained clowns we have accidentally made a sort of ludicrous show but one that is also serious and personal… they go together.”

“Finding the joy in things but telling a story too was an interesting challenge,” Andy recalls.

Describing the importance of comedy, Andy says, “People can learn about [haemochromatosis] but not in a lecture form.”

“Absurd, clown comedy—it’s playing with serious things in life but not speaking down to these experiences,” Rob highlights.

“It has a serious message, but you can communicate the idea easier with humour because you are already connecting with them. If people are laughing, you know they are concentrating.”

Andy highlights the show’s importance in terms of raising awareness of haemochromatosis. “We are in Scotland for a month, and statistically more Scottish people are at risk,” he says.

How did the idea start?

Andy recalls, “We were joking about the iron that was going to waste when we were having venesection and thought what we could do with this blood. We thought that you could make a sword out of all that iron. It was funny idea—exciting.”

“I liked the idea of jumping from modern day back to medieval,” Rob says.

What has been the emotional impact of making the show?

“This is an inherited condition, we both have it, so we connect through that—following the story of this thing that we inherited,” Rob says. “As brothers over 30, making this show together—not many siblings get to do that.”

The brothers describe reaching out to Haemochromatosis UK to achieve positive outcomes of raising awareness through their show. At the beginning and end of the shows, a QR code is displayed, which takes audience members to the Haemochromatosis UK website to find out more about the condition.

“We include real research as a slide show,” Rob says, “it’s amazing with modern medicine we could find out about this without having any serious symptoms.”

“One person found out early that he had haemochromatosis because he saw our show,” Rob shares. “It’s nice to know that we did that with our absurd style of comedy, that good things come out of it.”

The Duncan Brothers educate and entertain through comedy and fantasy in Blood Sword, offering “a unique insight” into the condition, Rob suggests, “even for haemochromatosis experts.”

Where can you see the show?

The show ran during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2024 at the Underbelly Cowgate (Big Belly) and will be touring the UK during 2025.

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Genetic haemochromatosis is the UK’s most common genetic condition, directly affecting over 380,000 people. Although it is commonplace, the condition is significantly under-diagnosed in the UK.

Source: Haemochromatosis UK

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