Theatre review: Little Rabbit, Quaker Meeting House, Edinburgh

Lecoq-trained performer Deborah Pugh - a veteran of Theatre Ad Infinitum shows such as Translunar Paradise - gives a powerful performance as Susan, a teenager with learning difficulties, in Jane McNulty’s one-woman play.

Little Rabbit, Quaker Meeting House (Venue 40)

Little Rabbit, Quaker Meeting House, Edinburgh * * *

The flood waters of Storm David are rising as she tells us her story - the death of her mother, her father’s increased incapacitation, and the reason why she isn’t allowed to play outside any more.

If this all sounds bleak, largely, it isn’t. Susan is cheerful, resilient and matter of fact. She sees the world clearly and dispassionately, but doesn’t work out the implications of what she is seeing. The audience is put in the powerful position of watching her situation worsen, fearing for her while she remains blissfully unaware of the danger she is in.

The story unfolds in a careful, controlled fashion, though relying on a member of the audience to deliver lines at a crucial point means the ending doesn’t have the force it should. As long as one can accept the basic concept - an actor who is not themselves disabled playing a person with a disability - this is a powerful performance and a compelling, if occasionally disturbing, story.

Until 24 August

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