Review: Cutting Out at Tobacco Factory Theatres

Powerful piece of theatre that brings comfort to those who feel they are on their own

Cutting Out is a hugely powerful piece of theatre that blends storytelling and activism around the subject of Childhood Sexual Abuse (CSA) – all from lived experience.

It may not sound like a great night out at the theatre, but Viv Gordon’s show is warm, funny, beautiful and uplifting. It’s also really vital at continuing to build a community of survivors through a safe creative space.

Cutting Out has been some time in the making. Covid put paid to earlier attempts, but the show started to find its stride after a nine-day run in a vacant branch of Shoe Zone in Knowle’s Broadwalk shopping centre.

It also drew 500 people to a five-day event at the People’s Republic of Stokes Croft (PRSC).

This week, it is at Tobacco Factory Theatres, a venue known for its innovative and daring creative programme.

One of the best things about watching theatre at this venue is that the auditorium entrance is through a darkened corridor that pops you out at the stage. Each time it’s a new Narnian experience as you emerge.

This time you pop out into a truly very beautiful set. Strings of paper dolls holding hands dance across the stage. Each one represents a genuine survivor with a story of their own.

Viv Gordon is keen to have a paper doll for every person who has experienced abuse so they are represented. With one official report estimating there are 11m survivors, she asks the audience at each show to help add to the collection. Those doing so will help speed up a process that would take more than 300 years to do alone.

As well as the dolls, there are original illustrated standees of children. Stylistically, they are similar in some ways to Lauren Child characters. It feels friendly and reassuring.

It’s also a clever device for Gordon to tell her story. She blends in amongst them, almost as if disappearing into a picture story book.

More references to children’s stories comes in the form of shadow puppeting a story from the German children’s book Der Struwwelpeter.

Cutting out does cover child sexual abuse, but it is not descriptive, it is not harrowing and it’s not graphic. It feels supportive and safe instead of triggering.

It is explored in quiet moments. Ultimately, over time, there is a strong sense of empowerment with support and healing – after many years of ‘pretend, pretend, pretend’ that everything is OK. Viv Gordon has taken her experience and turned it into activism. Come the end she is fierce.

Boris Johnson’s 2019 comments in an LBC phone in regarding historic child sexual abuse cases was played.

He said: “And one comment I would make is I think an awful lot of money and an awful lot of police time now goes into these historic offences and all this malarkey.

“You know, £60m I saw was being spaffed up a wall on some investigation into historic child abuse and all this kind of thing. What on earth is that going to do to protect the public now?”

Viv Gordon is incensed.

It is not historic, the survivors are here now, shes says.

In a post-show discussion she tells the audience that for survivors it is very much a fight for recognition. That CSA is not talked about and survivors are discriminated against by “omission”. She asked why it is that this “huge invisible community” was so “marginalised”.

A table of items to help anxious and neurodivergent audience members was available upon entrance. This was a welcome addition that certainly helped some audience members to access the show feeling more secure.

The Zebra badges are for Zebra Day CSA Pride. An annual event on 31 January each year for survivors and allies aiming to bring an end to the stigma of CSA and raise the voices of survivors.

A young person who accompanied me to this show said that they were surprised what falls on the spectrum of CSA. Under definitions listed by the NSPCC, there are likely to be so many hidden school children whose experiences would count but will never be heard without support.

Whilst the age recommendation for the show is 16 years upwards, it would certainly be suitable for those who are slightly younger but with a mature outlook.

The young person with me said at the end of the show: “It was a good way to get the sexual abuse topic across to multiple people. I didn’t know what dissociation was called and that it had a name. That’s what that feeling is. I get that but didn’t realise it was a thing. I realised my experience is just as real as other people’s. It is also helpful to know that there are other people who feel the same way and you are not alone.”

Cutting out is a fantastic piece of theatre that manages to balance both creative and gentle storytelling alongside activism and a call to action into one essential package. You may think CSA is something that happens to other people but it can affect any family in unexpected ways. Shows like this will help those affected to realise they are not alone.

Cutting Out is on at Tobacco Factory Theatres until 07 June 2025

For more information and to book, visit: https://tobaccofactorytheatres.com/shows/cutting-out/

Viv Gordon’s campaign to increase the visibility and voice of the community of adult survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse:  https://www.vivgordoncompany.co.uk

Cast and Creatives
Writer & Performer – Viv Gordon
Director & Co-Writer – Tom Roden
Music Composer – Thomas Johnson
Designer – Imogen Harvey-Lewis
Lighting Designer – Chris Swain
Producer – Kate McStraw 
Production  Manager – Simon Langley
Marketing & Comms – Bethan Williams & Cushla Gordon Simpson
Wellbeing Support – Rachel Hole & Kate Elgood
Access PA – Lisa Hall

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