Museum of Austerity review

English Touring Theatre’s mixed-reality installation, directed by Sacha Wares, is a devastating indictment of the impact of austerity policies on disabled people. Co-edited by Disability News Service editor John Pring, the production features stories of those most affected by government austerity policies, told by the families who survive them.

The piece has been designed with accessibility in mind, including tailoring the experience for those who might find certain aspects too triggering (a level of care that feels particularly relevant in light of the recent debate over content warnings). The tour is also accompanied by workshops and discussions at each venue, allowing further exploration of the topic.

Miriam Buether’s haunting installation design is beautifully scored by composer Adrian Lee (with evocative sound and lighting design by Gareth Fry and Prema Mehta, respectively). Such a high-tech installation could risk being gimmicky and undermining its own message, but the efforts taken by all to avoid this are evident at every stage.

As participants don an XR headset and wander around, ghostly holographic figures shimmer into view. A man lies sprawled on the ground, clutching his chest and a Lidl carrier bag, as his dog barks frantically beside him. A young woman on a bed stares despairingly at a department for work and pensions letter. An elderly woman is lying out in a hospital bed, disoriented and scared. As you approach each figure, their story begins, haltingly narrated by those who knew them best.

The stories are all different, but all are grimly familiar. People with complex, often debilitating needs who were let down time and again by the very systems that were supposed to support them. A man with cognitive difficulties is instructed to fill out a 50-page form. A sexual assault survivor is sanctioned because she failed to present at an appointment, the very day after her assault. An agoraphobic woman is expected to leave her house to travel to an assessment. Each is failed repeatedly both by individuals and the system, with predictably tragic consequences.

Behind each of these narratives is the one urgent question the survivors wrestle with, spoken or unspoken: how could this have happened? How could this be allowed to happen? The answer comes in the jarring snippets of politicians’ voices that ambush you throughout. Braying, smug assurances from those always cushioned from need that the truly ‘deserving’ people will be supported, but that the taxpayers must not be exploited. This often-arbitrary demarcation between those the state deems worthy and those who are workshy scroungers creates a system where cruelty is a feature, not a bug: a catch-22 situation where someone must jump through a thousand hoops to obtain help, yet their ability to do so is taken as proof that they don’t need it.