If These Spasms Could Speak

Project Arts Centre, Cube

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In If These Spasms Could Speak, Robert Softley, who has cerebral palsy, invites the audience to stare at the way he moves, dresses and speaks onstage. It could be the ultimate delight to any voyeur, but Softley isn't deterred. In fact, he holds the gaze, controls it and projects himself right back on to it. Autonomy, bodily integrity and agency are all part of the game that Softley is playing.

Sharing information about our bodies in public brings a shy discomfort. Here, Softley’s presentation is refreshing and authentic, and is almost an act of defiance and resistance. For those in the audience who have a physical disability (including myself), it is as if he is drawing them into an intimate conversation with him, as he curls up on a comfy white armchair. Physically disabled people can cling to the dregs of shame brought on by years of discrimination. Softley teases us into letting go of that internalised carnage, and a sudden joke or the audience’s laughter reminds that this is not a private conversation - nor should it be.

Softley shares stories from ordering spaghetti on a first date to intimate details about sexual encounters through the lens of his spasms. His own narrative and aesthetic is intersected with stories, monologues and images of other disabled people’s bodies. His humour and charm coupled with his oozing sexuality add finesse and boldness to the piece. The jerks and ticks that control his body are not rehearsed. The disabled aesthetic is very much at play.

Until Sept 27