Red Bus Londinium Life

While I might have been too embarrassed to name the show at the Box Office once my tickets were in hand, this show was well worth it.

Disability-led theatre company FlawBored have produced an irreverent, exposing and hilarious exploration of the complexities of being inclusive. As a teacher, I recognised some of the dilemmas. If one person needs things loud and the other person gets sensory overload as soon as the volume increases, how can you make both happy?

The team of Aarian Mehraban, Chloe Palmer and Samuel Brewer joke about making a safe space (“This is a safe space” is even intoned over the PA as the audience arrive). But, jokes aside, they have created just that and the audience are carried with them and are able to laugh at both the show and themselves. The send up of PR agencies and HR managers is on point.

They say of themselves that a FlawBored “show is cheeky, chaotic and most importantly is not disability ‘trauma-porn’ or ‘pity-porn.’” This is a pretty good summary, but through the cheekiness and chaos some difficult ideas are able to be explored, too.

I spent a very rewarding 65 minutes in FlawBored‘s company and am eager to see what they do next.

Playing at the Soho Theatre until 13 May: https://sohotheatre.com/shows/its-a-motherfking-pleasure/