Solo performances can be like Marmite, but whether you love it or hate it a night of four solo performances is going to be full of variety. The opening night of One Festival 2014, The Space’s celebration of new writing and monologues in the solo form, is no exception.

The night began with a longer piece, The Unfortunates, written by Aoise Stratford and performed by Lucy Farrett. The period setting of the piece suits the converted church space well, and it is atmospheric. Farrett is well directed by Katherine Timms; she has a strong, consistent sense of space and uses it to her advantage. The fact that this piece is actually a duologue with an unknown, mute stranger in a pub adds a sense of mystery, filling the piece with pregnant pauses which will only ever be filled by the ‘unfortunate’ Farrett. Its subject matter of Jack the Ripper has of course been done before, but taken from the interesting perspective of a friend of one of the victims, and full, as it is, of authentic colour and detail, it is an impressive piece of writing and performance. The erratic, digressive style is perhaps a little too unstructured to maintain the energy and attention for the full length of the piece, but it is nevertheless wonderful to watch.

After the interval come three diverse shorter pieces. Sylvia, written by Steven Shawcroft, performed by Emma Rose, and directed by Damian Cooper, was certainly a powerful depiction of the difficulties of disability, and the struggle to come to terms with loss. Not knowing the motivations of those involved, it is difficult to pass judgement. Perhaps the piece was simply an attempt to portray an under-represented group of people. However there is no denying that watching an able-bodied actor perform disability, in a ten minute monologue which is bound to be somewhat simplistic, was uncomfortable viewing.

In stark contrast, the next piece, The Other Foot, written by Georgia Keighery, and directed by Amie Taylor, has the audience sitting comfortably from the beginning. Performer Emma Rose, frantically wide-eyed and grinning from ear-to-ear, stands transfixed by a sight directly across the stage: a single black stiletto. Her exaggerated clownish performance and struggle to be seen as ‘normal’ (patently extremely difficult for this particular character) generate a huge amount of humour. Whether a conscious decision from the programmers or not, its inclusion immediately after Sylvia raises an interesting point about what we are comfortable with on stage. Whilst distinctly uncomfortable when faced with disability, we seemed to have no problem laughing at someone who was at least bordering on mental illness.

The final piece of the night was the least problematic. The Horror of Economy Class, written and performed by Philip Doherty, is full of risqué, laddy humour combined with parodies of high drama, with effective lighting and sound effects. Doherty tells the story of two Irish men facing the consequences the morning after a whisky bender on board a cruise ship. He knows his story well, and performs it charismatically. It was, overall, an enjoyable, amusing and stimulating evening.

One Festival 2014 is playing The Space until the 2 February. For more information and tickets, see The Space website.