Occupational Hazard review

There is fun to be had in welcoming us in to Occupational Hazard – a work created by Leeds-based duo ACCA Dance Theatre that explores a day in the life of flight attendants Becky and Linda. After our ‘boarding passes’ have been checked, we’re informed that we’re all sitting in standard class. The work explicitly makes the point that real life doesn’t come with trigger warnings, but it is a flight that takes us to unexpected places. Featuring clowning, comedy and choreography, it is both deeply moving and furiously funny.

As Becky, Charlotte Arnold is the more experienced flight attendant on ACCAirways, where she manages to sail through the daily onslaught of microaggressions and blatant sexism with a tight hairstyle and even tighter smile. Newbie Linda (Anna Cabré-Verdiell Bosch) finds it harder to deal with the way they are treated. “Sometimes you let off-board Linda call the shots,” Becky reprimands her enraged colleague. In other words, on-board Linda must accept the status quo and keep smiling through.

After some fun and games with the safety demonstration and drinks trolley, a bad patch of turbulence shakes everything up, in more ways than one. Dance and physical theatre are used to take us to places words don’t easily reach – particularly in a poignant scene in which Linda comforts a traumatised Becky, rocking her in her arms. By the work’s close, it becomes clear that what is happening on the ACCAirways flight is a metaphor for a bigger fight and a much longer journey.