Review: Libby's Eyes and Nine Foot Nine (Bunker Theatre)

Libby's Eyes, Poke in the Eye Productions

Anyone who has faced filling in the endless forms required to claim Disability Living Allowance, or more recently Personal Independence Payment (PIP), will have an extra level of appreciation for the premise of Libby's Eyes, a play about a girl who simply wants to function like everyone else.

She is visually impaired, but in a dystopian world not a million miles from our own, the government categorises disabled people as either 'functioning' or 'non-functioning'.

Libby is issued with a Reasonable Adjustment Robot, LE, to help her live and work, but Ariane Gray's coolly neutral and observant LE quickly demonstrates that it's picked up more than just the basics when it comes to inappropriately expressing thoughts and emotions.

Writer Amy Bethan Evans' own experiences with the PIP system form the basis for the play, in which she shares her 'gallows humour and anger' about the relationship between the ideas of functionality and ableism.

Georgie Morrell burns with fire and light as Libby, as she works towards full independence and builds a relationship with Vin (Barry McStay). Steadfastly resisting any 'inspirational' epithets, she takes on the authorities but is presented with an impossibly cruel choice by officialdom.

Louise Kempton is the audio describer and is also a dab hand at authority figures, playing a passive-aggressive boss as well as the judge handing down life-changing decisions. Holly Joyce is riveting with her impassioned mother's pleas, while dad Ron is played with gruff selflessness by Adam Elms.

The play script still needs some refining, but it's an impressive and challenging work from Poke in the Eye Productions, directed with flair by Spencer Charles Noll.

Nine Foot Nine, Sleepless Theatre Company

Sleepless Theatre Company specialises in 'bold, concept-driven work' – the concept here being that women around the world are suddenly growing unstoppably, and these 'Sprouters' are flouting every structure of society with their size and strength.

Cara, the vibrant and very watchable Alexandra James, is a sprouter breaking away from her husband and child to be part of this world revolution – but at what personal cost to herself and her family?

Paul O'Dea combines a mesmerizing calm with passion as deserted (but controlling) husband Nate, while daughter Sophie (Natalie Kimmerling) unsurprisingly gets very angry with the pair of them.

There are a great many interesting ideas in the show, directed by Helena Jackson, and the lighting by Jessica Hung is especially effective. But it takes on something of a rambling feel after a while and needs tightening up drastically to make the most of the relationships and concepts it explores.