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(We indulge in) a bit of roll play

Tramway, Glasgow

Four stars

 

Sex and the disabled has long been considered by some as a taboo topic, with presumptions that those with disabilities don’t have sexual feelings, let alone act on them, still prevailing in some quarters. Such ideas should have been put to bed after the screening of The Skin Horse, an impressionistic 1983 Channel Four documentary on the subject that was co-scripted by the late Nabil Shaban, who also appeared in it prior to becoming a familiar presence on Scotland’s stages later in his career. 

 

More than four decades on, the subject is still hot property, as this new play from disabled based theatre company Birds of Paradise demonstrates in a work co-written by Hana Pascal Keegan, Gabriella Sloss, and BOP artistic director Robert Softley Gale.

 

The play’s main focus is Ben, a nineteen-year-old wheelchair user who has barely left his parents house for six months following an incident in a Liverpool nightclub. With his only real human contact his on/off girlfriend Amy, there is also the celestial presence of CripGod. This is a kind of potty-mouthed guardian angel played by comedian Rosie Jones, who opens the show with a mini stand up set. Oh, and Ben also makes a small fortune from his OnlyFans site. 

 

While Ben’s parents deal with their sexual needs in a more conventional way, the discovery of Ben’s videos on his laptop is an understandable cause for concern. It is also the chance for Ben, Amy and CripGod to have some fun at Ben’s parents’ expense. 

 

What follows in Softley Gale’s production is a portrait of loneliness, a twenty-first century retreat into online culture, and the everyday struggles of a disabled person trying to get by in a world that doesn’t really include them in any meaningful sense. This is brought home by Ed Larkin as Ben and Ava Duncan as Amy, who, with the help of the all-powerful CripGod, eventually placate and enlighten Ben’s mum and dad, played by Zoe Hunter and Alan Mackenzie. 

 

A playful sense of mischief runs throughout the heart of matters here. This is the case from Jones’s charismatic interventionist role and the inclusion of BSL interpreters Jamie Rae and Yvonne Strain into the action, to the grand finale that plays out in Ben’s dream nightclub. But is it about sex? Yes, yes and yes, and a whole lot more besides.


The Herald, February 23rd 2026

 

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