A provocative new play challenges society's discomfort that disabled people have sex lives'

"People say the right things and that they support equality, but what if you push that into areas that are less comfortable? Like would you ever date a disabled person? Would you marry a disabled person? Would you have sex with a disabled person? Some would go, Yeah, of course I would.' But would they? There's still discomfort in recognising that disabled people have sex lives."

"I'm asked quite a lot why everything I make ends up being about sex, says Scottish writer and director Robert Softley Gale, artistic director of the company Birds of Paradise. His new production, (We indulge in) a bit of roll play, is designed to provoke frank discussions around sex and disability. Softley Gale and his co-writers, Hana Pascal Keegan and Gabriella Sloss, aim to challenge audiences in the show which he is also directing."

"They hope to counter narratives around disabled people needing charity or pity, and instead show lives that are complex and nuanced. We don't see a lot of disabled characters full stop. Seeing them having respectful, enjoyable sex is almost unheard of. By doing that in the ways that we do, we're being quite provocative, he says. The playfully named production follows Ben, a young disabled man, portrayed by Ed Larkin (star of the West End musical The Little Big Things)."

Robert Softley Gale, artistic director of Birds of Paradise, created (We indulge in) a bit of roll play to provoke frank discussions around sex and disability. The production challenges assumptions that disabled people need charity or pity and instead portrays complex, nuanced lives. The play centers on Ben, a young disabled man balancing university, living at home, and an occasional girlfriend. Ben depends on his parents for care and mobility, and his parents make misguided presumptions about his abilities and sexual life. Seeing disabled characters portrayed as having respectful, enjoyable sex is rare; the production intentionally provokes discomfort to confront those taboos.

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