Aaron Pang in Falling A Disabled Love Story, © Kaelan Novak
When people talk about the perfect “rug pull” in theatre, they’re usually thinking of some big twist — the kind that shocks the audience and flips the story on its head.
My show does have that, but for me, the most interesting twists are quieter. In Falling: A Disabled Love Story, I’m not trying to trick the audience or guide them toward any particular ending. In fact, they always pick the ending I personally don’t want them to.
And that’s exactly the point.
This show is about a spinal cord injury and everything that comes after. Dating, desire, awkward hookups, and trying to rebuild a sense of self in a world that already thinks it knows your story. The twist doesn’t come from what I do. It comes from what the audience expects. I give them the “inspirational” story that I know they want.
We’ve all been fed so many “inspirational” disability narratives — neat arcs, tidy lessons, feel-good endings — that people come in already primed for resolution. They’re not wrong-footed by the story itself. They’re wrong-footed by their assumptions.
I don’t need to do a lot of work in my storytelling; I just need to lean into those warm, fuzzy feelings that people want.
There’s a moment late in the show where I let the audience choose between two possible endings: A happy ending and a sad ending. Every single time, they overwhelmingly pick the version I don’t like. But when they do that, it shows how skewed our preferences as a collective audience are. Which proves the thesis of the show. Their choice reveals more about the kind of story they’re hoping for than the one I actually tell and live.
The real shock isn’t in what happens to me. It’s in the moment they realise the story wasn’t built to deliver a moral or a clean takeaway.
The real rug pull isn’t about me at all. It’s about them.
Realising the story isn’t about the fall, or the recovery, or a moral. It’s about how stories are deeply informed by the audience’s wants and desires. I don’t need to shock the audience. The expectations already built into how we talk about disability do that for me.
The twist not only happens onstage, but the discomfort and shock linger delightfully long after the lights go down.
Falling: A Disabled Love Story plays at Pleasance Courtyard (Bunker Two) from Wednesday 30 July to Monday 25th August 2025 (not 6th, 14th) at 15:00.