The Arms, an original work by South Korean theatre maker Moon Kim, comes with a compelling hook – one of the two characters has been making herself extra arms in order to provide more help to the struggling people of the world.

We start with Domi (Rosalind Jackson Roe) – as she introduces us to her story, commanding the stage with purpose. Roe has great presence (and excellent projection.) The stage is scattered with twisted arms (made by sculptor Elaina Fielding) and she strides among them, stating her ethos; if she has more arms, she can help more people despite their wilful environmental blindness (‘It’s fine and it’s been fine.’) The setting is contemporary, but the world’s surrealist edge means that her specific aims stay abstract, despite her passion and ambition. She becomes well-known for her campaign and soon her friend and neighbour Sora (Carolina Emidio) becomes suspicious of her motives, beginning to spy on her – Emidio is engagingly intense and unnerved. The staging is striking and effective, with a recycled fishing net featuring two massive geckos strung up in the corner of the stage, a swimming pool divider going round the edge, and a well used paper screen.

There’s an excellent dance scene as Sora’s suspicion peaks and she mysteriously finds herself mirroring Domi’s actions (with atmospheric music by producer and sound designer Ábel MGE.) Both characters speak frequently to the audience, but the dialogue occasionally feels a little over-written, even with the confines of the world – there are also opportunities for moments of humour that could be taken advantage of. The initial set-up develops further as Sora takes drastic action to stop Domi, and there’s another excellent dance sequence, with Emidio pulling double duty as a police officer and MGE warping the sound into law enforcement gibberish. The general metaphor that emerges from Domi being stymied by Sora – who fears that she is taking others’ arms, not just making new ones as she has told us – because she is more of an immediate threat than her aims, is a little unsubtle and could do with more nuance and exploration. The plot develops unexpectedly, but the resolution left me with unanswered questions as it seemed unclear how the women would progress; Domi’s angry accusations of Sora also aren’t unpacked as much as it feels they could be. The world is surreal and elastic though, which means these queries feel less significant than they would in a more realist piece. 

Overall, it was an intriguing and inventive show with committed performances by the actors; Kim has created a vivid and memorable piece. There were excellent moments of innovative staging and movement, especially during sections of conflict or high stakes, and Ábel MGE’s sound design elevated the action well throughout. Ultimately I think it just needed slight refinement in order to pack the full punch it is capable of.