(i)land @ Glasgow Culture 2014

Marc Brew's latest piece (i)land examines isolation and what it means to be cut off from society. When three people are forced together on a desert island – in this case, six tonnes of sand in Glasgow city centre – they have to consider how to get off it, as well as their relationships with each other. The work itself rides the line between physical theatre and dance, while Brew uses his and other disabled artists' way of moving to inform his dancing. 

While it's easy to succumb to the universe of (i)land, it most likely will raise questions about disability, and perhaps poke at the conscience a little, to enquire whether or not we isolate people with a disability. Claire Cunningham's work taps into this quite readily, as her latest piece Guide Gods (****) explores various religions' take on disability, from Islam to Hinduism to Christianity and whether it is viewed as a curse or a blessing. She also considers atheism and various explanations of evolution as part of a human belief system. Meanwhile, Robert Softley's Tell Me What Giving Up Looks Like removes the 'superhuman athlete' or the 'inspiring victims of cancer' labels and looks at disability without the embellishments offered up in ableist media stereotypes. Overall, Brew's work ties in well with Cunningham's and Softley's for wanting to understand what it means to be human, and it seems a piece worth seeing. [Eric Karoulla]