How To Disappear, Traverse

Robert hasn't left his small bedroom in over a decade, sister Isla his only contact with the outside world, their mother having died and dad has left the country.  He's a man damaged by life, trapped within his obsessive habits and agrophobia.  Teenage Isla has her own problems, with the money running out and being bullied at school.  Into this claustrophobic dynamic comes Jessica, a DWP benefits assessor, come to find out the truth about Robert, and a jarring presence in their routine of existence.

What looks like being a straightforward critique of the uncaring benefits system, and the brutal way it treats mental illness, becomes something more magical when a portal to a parallel existence gives us an alternative Robert, one whom life has treated less cruelly, and has had a chance to be the person he should be.  It's funny, dark, compassionate, and with a sense of wonder appropriate to the Xmas season.  Owen Whitelaw impresses as the disturbed and disturbing Robert, and although Sally Reid looks way too young to be the hardened civil servant she claims to be, her performance is key to our understanding of the play.