Diagnosis at Finborough Theatre Review
Diagnosis production image. Photo by Alex Walton
Written by Sarah for Theatre & Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review
This production contains flashing lights, loud sounds, references to sexual assault, and strong language.
“When systems become tangled in their own procedures, it’s not protection anymore”.
Based on the pedigree of the creative team, Diagnosis always promised to be an interesting watch. Written by Athena Stevens, directed by Ché Walker and performed by both, the collaboration produces just over an hour of knife-edge theatre that is all-encompassing; rooted, dark, witty, and acutely troubling. The team did not disappoint.
The world created is a dystopian Big Brother landscape, most unsettling because it is not immediately clear whether it is set in the real present-day or not. The story centres on a woman who works for the London Underground as a drone operator and has developed the ability to predict the future. Specifically, to foresee the exact date and scenario that will result in someone becoming disabled. We meet the character when she has been arrested at a ‘nitrous bar’ for punching someone.
The scenario becomes very real and recognisable when the woman is brought to the police station. As a wheelchair user with cerebral palsy, the officers assume she is drunk or high, and the newbie police recruit announces, “There is obviously something wrong with her”. Labelled as a ‘vulnerable adult’, the senior officer (played by Walker) is required by law to follow safeguarding procedures and is uncomfortable with his new charge. The play is rich with feelings and frustrations and infused with illustrations of inequalities, the inaccessible, and the unforgivable in an ableist society.
The set is an interview room at a police station, which has been skillfully designed with angled walls giving an omnipresent sense of oppression. There is also live video capture that is projected onto a screen, reminding us that everything in this room is ‘on the record’. It also allows the audience to see some of the nuances in the performances, particularly from Stevens, whose monologues are vivid and poetic at times. The character is tormented by her special powers, ethical dilemmas, life experiences, a world that refuses to listen and evolve, and laws that are designed to protect her are used against her.
Stevens has some perfectly timed one-liners, and the delightful cop duo relationship played by Walker and Ted Walliker as his lackey, injects some A-class humour. The play is finely layered and thought provoking, and is a masterclass in how to create an utterly absorbing world with heart and humour in 60 minutes.
It would be remiss not to mention the irony of having a play with issues of accessibility at its core in a theatre that is not fully wheelchair accessible. That is not a criticism of the venue because the production is to be applauded and the programming here serves to highlight the issue, which is bigger than one building. The majority of theatres are in old buildings, especially classic fringe venues that require enormous injections of cash to be adapted, let alone planning permission. The point here is to bring these issues into our individual and collective consciousness, to forge a way forward, and Diagnosis definitely does that and more.
At Finborough Theatre until 7 June 2025
★★★★
