The Wonderful World of Dissocia, Theatre Royal Stratford East review - wild trip gets a welcome revival

★★★ THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISSOCIA, THEATRE ROYAL STRATFORD EAST The landscape of mental health explored in surreal comedy

A woman confronts her neuroses in a phantasmagorical world full of fun and fear

Lisa has lost an hour in a (somewhat contrived) temporal glitch. As a consequence, her world is always sliding off-kilter, not quite making sense, things floating in and out of memory. A watchmaker (himself somewhat loosely tethered to reality) tells her that she needs to get it back as a lost hour wields great power and can fall into the wrong hands. Lisa embraces her quest and travels to the strange land of Dissocia.

All of Us, National Theatre review - revelatory, but problematic

★★★ ALL OF US, NATIONAL THEATRE Revelatory, but problematic

Francesca Martinez’s debut play about disability politics entertains - and frustrates

Has the pandemic made us more angry? Although Francesca Martinez’s debut play, which is at the National Theatre, was programmed before COVID, its belated opening has not dampened the playwright’s fiery criticism of the effects of Tory government austerity on the lives of people with disabilities.

Give Them Wings review - down but not out in Darlington

Daniel Watson and Toyah Willcox shine as a disabled man and his doughty mam

Give Them Wings is the biopic of Paul Hodgson, who seven months after he was born in 1965 was diagnosed with meningococcal meningitis. If that wasn’t bad enough, he survived his precarious childhood to become a devout fan of Durham’s hapless Darlington FC – it’s criminal that this low-budget British indie wasn’t titled Give Them Wingers.

Oliver Sacks: His Own Life review - a complex portrait of a complex man

★★★★ OLIVER SACKS: HIS OWN LIFE A complex portrait of a complex man

Occasionally reverential documentary about the British neurologist

It’s well worth tracking down one of the September 29 special cinema screenings of Ric Burns' lovingly made documentary portrait of the writer and neurologist Oliver Sacks, or seeking it out online.

CODA review - warm-hearted comedy about growing up in a Deaf family

★★★ CODA Warm-hearted comedy about growing up in a Deaf family

Sundance audience pleaser with a new twist on the high school coming-of-age drama

When CODA opened Sundance in May, it was an instant hit with that liberal, kindly audience and was snapped up by Disney at great expense. It’s easy to see why – CODA is a funny, easy-to-watch coming of age comedy that allows viewers to feel warm and understanding towards Deaf people. It’s got Oscar nominations written all over it. But I’m curious to see what the Deaf community make of the film.

Sound of Metal review - hidden depths behind the decibels

★★★ SOUND OF METAL Absorbing story of hard choices and self-knowledge

Absorbing story of hard choices and self-knowledge

I once went to see Motorhead, back in the days when real men didn’t wear earplugs, and afterwards it was if somebody had completely sawn off the top half of my hearing register. Weird and scary, and the band were putting themselves through that every night.

Filmmaker Darius Marder: 'Deafness is a culture. That's not being PC'

Q&A: FILMMAKER DARIUS MARDER Taking 'Sound of Metal' from concept to award nominations

Writer and director on Sound of Metal's long journey from concept to award nominations

Sound of Metal has been a long time coming. Director and writer Darius Marder faced years of delays ranging from casting changes to the whole world shutting down. Was it worth the wait? Well, six Academy Award nominations including Best Film certainly suggest it was.

A Special School, BBC Wales review - heartwarming film about special needs education

★★★★★ A SPECIAL SCHOOL, BBC WALES  Heartwarming film about special needs education

Lovingly made and inspiring new series shows what's possible for students with special needs

This warm-hearted and informative documentary series about life in a Welsh special education school probably isn’t going to be a ratings buster for the BBC, but it’s one of the most touching and well-made shows I’ve seen in a long time.

Directors Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui: 'The disability community is the world community'

THE DISABILITY COMMUNITY IS THE WORLD COMMUNITY Interview with the men behind Netflix's new Paralympic documentary 'Rising Phoenix'

Interview with the men behind Netflix's new Paralympic documentary 'Rising Phoenix'

In 2018, directors Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui burst onto the documentary scene with McQueen, a visually stunning study of British fashion designer Alexander McQueen. Acclaim and offers followed, but no-one could have predicted the subject of their second feature.

Scrounger, Finborough Theatre online review – autobiography meets meta-theatre

★★★★ SCROUNGER, FINBOROUGH THEATRE Athena Stevens’s punchy account of how an airline trashed her wheelchair

Athena Stevens’s punchy account of how an airline trashed her wheelchair

During the current pandemic, stories about isolation have a particular resonance. Feelings of claustrophobia, loneliness and frustration slide off the stage and echo in our subconscious – yes, this is us alright. One of the most prescient is Athena Stevens’s Scrounger, an impassioned autobiographical account of how the crass inefficiency of an airline results in a wheelchair user being stuck at home for weeks on end.