Review: Sunshine Spa, Òran Mór: Like an old-school Play for Today

Òran Mór, Glasgow
Neil Cooper
Three stars
The heat is on when Iain meets Zainab after going in search of a place to cool down. Being downtown Marrakesh, however, things don't quite turn out as planned. Iain is a gay man from Manchester who turns up at Zainab's spa. Given the strict rules in Morocco regarding the rights of women, the two shouldn't even be in the same room, let alone be preparing a very special massage.
With Iain wheelchair bound and unable to bear to be touched, even that comes with complications. With protests on the streets outside, Zainab is as alive to the power of dissent as Iain is, and once both let their guard down they find a surprising amount of common ground.
Simon Jay's new play - the latest in this season's A Play, a Pie and a Pint series of lunchtime plays - is a warm and human take on everyday solidarity across cultures where differences might normally turn into something toxic.
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Jay's script may have a polemical heart, but the way his characters make a connection in the oddest of circumstances is a neat sleight of hand that endears you to their respective causes rather than leaving the theatre feeling harangued.
Presented in association with the Glasgow based Birds of Paradise company, Jay's play is the result of a callout to develop work with a disabled playwright. The result, directed by BOP's artistic director Robert Softley Gale, sees Stephen Smith Taylor make his professional debut as Iain opposite Fatima Jawara as Zainab. As they spar, the duo show off a text that feels rooted in old school plays for today with potential for a sit-com spin-off.
A word as well for designer Heather Grace Currie's convincingly realised spa set, which looks like an oasis of calm in a play that may be set several thousand miles away, but which feels familiarly close to home.

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