Written by Ellen Renton

Directed by Rachel Drazek

The ethereal nature of faith, however you choose to follow its doctrine, is captured in various powerful and exquisitely abstract communications with Disciples. Formed in a creative crucible from Ellen Renton’s text, utilising spoken word, performance, movement, and visuals, five performers vocalise stories of lives and anger, and for those with disabilities and are neurodivergent.

Perhaps much of the enraptured nature of the audience comes not only from the serene and gorgeously golden-hued set, but from the sheer rarity it is to see such forms of performance – the often-unseen nature of those with disabilities is still largely missing from “mainstream” theatre, and an untapped well of tremendously assertive talents and reverberating voices of life and aspiration. Directed by Rachel Drazek, Renton’s work is devised to place the ensemble at the forefront of the production, which prioritises women and non-binary people in a celebratory manner.

Disciples is performed by dance artist Laura Fisher, musician Sally Clay, actor Rana Bader, performer Irina Vartopeanu, and Emma McCaffery, who was part of the award-winning Castle Lennox ensemble. It would be impossible to construct a piece around the power and influence of faith without the prestige of music: psalm, hymn, rhythm, and gospel all ringing across generations as the heralding voice of many faith and personal belief. The presence of the Disciples Community Choir offers an immense richness to the production’s world-building that transcends the visual level with aid from Niroshini Thambar’s profoundly personal and affecting sound design. The inherent power of the show challenges audiences’ perceptions beyond their traditional experience, and if anything could have been incorporated into the flow more often.

Equally, the colour of Disciples is as important as the active performances – Zephy Lidell’s costumes align in a resplendently simplistic shimmer with the stark set, all still cast in Elle Taylor’s gorgeous lighting. Each of the five performers is garbed in these costumes with a prominent block colour – with Vartopeanu’s presence the first to make a firm impression on the audience, wrapped in a nurturing and warm meadow green. The precision and explosion of expression which Vartopeanu radiates is infectiously animated, yet earnest and transparent.

Even with its abstract nature, Disciples is one of the most honest and frank pieces of theatre seen in quite some time. Much of it comes from the performances from Clay or Bader – Clay’s delicate, though powerful, voice offers additional levels to the show as they weave between instrumentals, all played live with gusto and deft. While Bader and Fisher’s stunning dance work has an immediate presence – their strength and resilience communicated beautifully in their physicality, often tossing, and turning or shifting into almost silhouetted forms of glorious determination.

It is McCaffery though, who carries the ‘scripture’ of the show in a sense – its spoken word and even brief moments of levity. The performance of spoken word is a simple recitation of words and is an entirely different form of performance than acting. McCaffery does tremendously at thundering the anger and intensity of Renton’s words through their body; also capturing the gentility of it, the softness and comfort of faith.

Articulate, Disciples depicts experiences and tribulations without the often sloppy addition of demeaning details or tokenism. There is pure agency and skill on the stage, spread across the breadth of artistic expressions to communicate faith, determination, and existence. The story itself feels luculent, almost detached from a plain of reality in its movement and shimmering golden aura – with a tightness of understanding rippled throughout the piece from Drazek and Renton which makes the piece a powerfully influential one, if at times disjointed.