Paul Coates plays a disgraced Professor of American History, tracing the racism built into America’s foundations through abstract realism and hard historical fact. What makes this brave, and so relevant, is how it refuses to let the audience stay comfortable spectators: a wooden box confining the unseen boy is projected onto the screen and it troubles your conscience with every shake or sign of life inside it, while a key around the Professor’s neck tightens the central metaphor into something physical. Paul Coates doesn’t just recount history, he forces you to sit with your own response to it, which feels like the real point of the show. Confronting the past while making you confront yourself takes real nerve, and it pays off.

Gilded Balloon Patter House, until 30 Aug.
tw rating 4/5 | [Liv Pullman]