The Beauty Thief takes the form of a traditional fairytale, complete with an evil witch and a princess struggling to reclaim her stolen beauty.

But underneath the fairytale exterior is a story that draws on the parallels between the concepts of beauty and of freedom.

Rebus is a mixed ability theatre company with the aim to create social change while producing high-quality theatre.

It does this by working with people from marginalised communities, including people with disability, people with lived experience of mental illness, the elderly, and young LGBTQIA+ people, as well as tackling social issues from climate change to COVID recovery.

The Beauty Thief in particular takes the personal experiences of the cast, all who have differing abilities, to deliver a thought-provoking piece of theatre.

"There were a lot of times when we were discussing the play, where people were talking about incidents where non-disabled people would make decisions on behalf of disabled people, or they would treat disabled people like they were broken glass," co-director Sammy Moynihan says.

"So we wanted to create a story that shows people that choice and autonomy is so important, no matter who you are, and also that people with disabilities are also people and they can make their own decisions, and they don't always need to be coddled.

"I think for the audience it will challenge perceptions of theatre by people with disabilities."

The Beauty Thief is the company's largest production to date, having started seven years ago with, what was meant to be, a one-off project that used theatre as workplace training to help people learn more about accessibility and inclusivity.

The same message of diversity on stage is still promoted, but this time it is through the works the theatre company produces for the public.

Moynihan says society tends to approach plays such as The Beauty Thief with the misconception that it will be less professional than one produced by able-bodied artists. However, he hopes that by continuing to produce works through Rebus, it will help dispel this myth and prove that it can be just as professional and challenging as any other piece of theatre.

"Often in the theatre we talk a lot about diversity, and hearing from different voices, but the disabled community gets less of a look in," Moynihan says.

"[There are] so many expectations and preconceptions about disabled people and about what they're capable of. So it's really important not only to the participants but also to the audience to have this sort of eye-opening experience.

"The thing is diversity strengthens the art. We don't see ourselves as a charity organisation. We see ourselves as people working with a really valuable and interesting resource, which is our actors."

The Beauty Thief will be at Belconnen Community Theatre from Friday to Sunday. Tickets from $15 from Humanitix.

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