Review: THE SUNSHINE SPA, Oran Mor

The Sunshine Spa is a new play written by Simon Jay and directed by Robert Softley Gale, in association with Birds of Paradise. 

Zainab (Fatima Jawara) is working in The Sunshine Spa in Marrakesh when Iain (Stephen Smith Taylor) enters with the wrong impression of the services on offer. Iain is a gay man and a wheelchair user and the way the spa was recommended to him, he was looking for more than just a massage.

Zainab is extremely uncomfortable to have Iain in the spa and offers a wide range of excuses as to why he can't have any treatments there. In the end, she admits that it would be scandalous enough for people to know a single woman was alone with a man, let alone that there is any physical contact between them. 

This particular performance and another during the week featured BSL interpretation from Greg Colquhoun and captions are projected onto the backdrop to make the accessibility integrated. 

Jay's script is punchy and witty with some brilliantly creative profanity. While there's a silliness to the concept of this show there's a much deeper meaning as both characters explore their vulnerabilities. Iain tells Zainab of how open things are back home in Manchester when it comes to sex and love and she speaks of her urge to join in the protests for women's rights in Morocco. The relationship between the pair is brilliant to watch as they both let their guard down.

The Sunshine Spa is a brilliant play with a fantastic stage debut from Stephen Smith Taylor and a passionate performance from Fatima Jawara. 

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