A DARK comedy thriller is heading to the Ayrshire stage this spring.

The Scottish disability-led theatre group Birds of Paradise (BOP) will bring Rob Drummond's play Don't Make Tea to the Gaiety Theatre in Ayr in April.

The company is marking its 30th anniversary with a UK wide tour, following an acclaimed run at Edinburgh's Traverse Theatre.

Described as "a witty ridiculing of the welfare state", the show explores a futuristic benefits regime through the assessment of Chris as she is forced to claim benefits.

And it asks: "If you are capable of killing and disposing of a body, can you really call yourself disabled?"

With bitingly satirical dialogue, and cutting-edge accessible staging, interwoven through the show, Don’t Make Tea confronts the lengths disabled people must go to in order to preserve themselves in an unjust system.

In the year 2030, fiercely independent Chris has no choice but to give up her job when her condition deteriorates.

Forced to claim benefits, she is paid a visit by the spirited WorkPay employee Ralph, who is tasked with assessing her suitability for aid under the new regime.

As it becomes increasingly apparent that the new system Ralph places so much faith in has little intention of giving Chris the help she needs, she must confront just how far she must be willing to go to save herself.

Ayr Advertiser: Don't. Make. Tea.

Seamlessly blending the bleak realities of attempting to claim benefits with laugh-out-loud black comedy, Don’t Make Tea is an intensely absurd, wildly entertaining illustration of a plausible near future.

All performances are captioned and have creatively embedded BSL interpretation and audio description.

Writer Rob Drummond said: "This is a piece I have been thinking about writing for a long time - since becoming aware of the inherent, often Kafkaesque, drama involved in undertaking a disability assessment in this country.

"The play I had in mind, however, has been greatly enhanced by the provocations and challenges gifted to me by BOP and their associates.

"I’m proud of what we’ve come up with - a dark comedy that doesn’t claim to have all the answers but hopefully asks a lot of the right questions, in a way that aims to heal political divides rather than exacerbate them."

The show comes to the Gaiety on Thursday April 9. Tickets are available from the Gaiety box office on 01292 288235 or by emailing info@ayrgaiety.co.uk.