Sister @ The Arches 2014

Somewhere inside Sister's meandering exploration of family relationships, sex work and lesbianism, there is a passionate, fiery and determined performance that blends these competing themes into a vigorous,intelligent provocation. It emerges when Roseana Cade suddenly performs a dance, equally aggressive and sensual, clad only in heavy boots. Glimpses appear on Roseanna's face when she listens to her sister's stories of work in pornographic movies. And the bold opening, when the sisters perform lap-dances on two members of the audience, suggests that Sister is consciously challenging stereotypes and expectations.

Yet in the gentle dialogues between the sisters, often addressed to the audience and frequently recalling childhood adventures, has a strangely non-committal tone. Amy Cade discusses a variety of pornographic scenes in a calm, almost wistful manner, while the tender scene when she cleans off her sister's stripper make-up takes them back to a tale of a youthful home theatre production.

The two women are naked for most of the piece, but the atmosphere is less erotically charged than melancholic: they share experiences, reflect on their different paths before wandering tamely offstage, having dismantled the stripper-pole. Throughout, they refuse to moralise - Amy notes it is possible to take a face-full of cum and still be a feminist, and Roseana comments that her identity is tied up in her feminism - or probe deeper into the problems or industry of sex work. It's tentative, suggestive, more concerned with presenting raw information from their lives that developing any theme or agenda.

The repeated projection of home videos is a constant reminder of how the two women grew up together - the last sequence crassly suggesting that the desire to dance around a pole might have been foreshadowed on one sunny afternoon - but adds limited depth.  When Roseana forces two crude stereotypes together (the sensual lap-dancer and the booted, shaven headed feminist) does the performance provoke.

There is clearly a personal journey on display, and the ease with which the women slip between discussing sex and family reveals their mutual empathy: the structure, however, is loose and prevents a profound impact. Sister lacks precision and focus, neutralising its potential. As part of Roseana Cade's emergence as an important artist, it is an intriguing and promising production, showing that she is capable of addressing tough subjects in an original manner.