Two women – 15ft high with elongated black skirts – are wheeled on to the stage. Towering over the audience, looking like they’re straight out of a terrifying sci-fi they start to recite their manifesto for the feminist revolution. The world is on the cusp of change and this is how the future should look.
Alongside them is a roller derby team, working together on the floor to create a giant yellow fabric ellipse. Through snippets of speech and movement, we learn that against the odds they’ve created a team, teaching themselves how to skate and compete.
‘Roller’ is thrilling to look at: for starters, it’s hard to get those haunting, gigantic figures out of your mind. And the roller team’s bright yellow ‘rink’ – assembled over the course of the show – is equally striking. But overall I felt there was a lack of emotional punch. I wanted more stories from the roller derby women, something that dragged the theoretical and the intellectual slap bang into relatable everyday life.