Showing @ Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh 5-13 March

Disability can be a taboo subject, which able-bodied people can find difficult to speak directly to a disabled person about. But stripping these boundaries and fears of offending aside and you have the frank, honest and open discussion that Girl X embodies, courtesy of disabled co-writer and performer Robert Softley and co-writer/director Pol Heyvaert as part of NTS’s Reveal season at the Traverse.

Framed within the context of an online forum, Girl X debates the case of an eleven-year-old girl who has severe cerebral palsy and the mental age of a five-month-old. Believing that it will improve her quality of life, Girl X’s parents want surgeons to spare her the distress due to be brought on in adolescence by removing her womb and breast buds, which will subsequently keep her small enough for them to continue looking after her as she ages.

Disabled rights activist Softley, who himself has cerebral palsy, argues the case in favour of Girl X’s right not to have the surgery, and the damaging potential of pre-empting circumstances which have yet to occur. With a Greek chorus acting as the public, the play covers a broad range of topics around the subject as any weird and wonderful online discussion board would, from smoking in porn to what ‘mental age’ really means.

Although a sensitive subject, what’s surprising is the weight of some of the topics presented, such as the abuse aimed at disabled people. Nothing is shied away from and, with preaching left aside, the audience are free to make up their own minds based on the candid debate on stage. But for such a serious topic that is being spoken so freely about, the play doesn’t take itself too seriously and is full of refreshingly comic moments, which makes the discussion of disabled rights all the easier to talk about outside the theatre.

If there is ever an example of what sums up the Reveal season, Girl X is it; it well and truly draws back the curtain on disability, human rights and the importance of open, uninhibited discussion, making it a brave and incredibly enlightening piece of theatre.