The urge to teach, to provoke reaction, to celebrate or castigate probably launched the first stories ever told. We learn at the feet of our elders, whether in family or community. I learned most of my drivel from my Father. Tell a good story and you’ve a friend for life. I learned a good supply of mischief from one of the oldest Seannachies (keeper of the stories) still alive and kicking in County Donegal – Packie Manus Byrne, who at 92 still claims to ‘thrive on lies’. Good storytelling makes good theatre. Find a witness and you’ve got an audience.
If the arts can be employed to transform people’s feelings, thoughts and responses to the world about them, then it is our duty as artists to engage in work as an agent for social change.
Theatre has always excited me, because you can create theatre anywhere. It doesn’t have to be confined to the marble halls of the elite. In fact one of the most powerful theatrical events I have attended was at Feast Festival in Adelaide last year. ‘Private Lives’ directed by Jo Stone of Stone/Castro productions. I arrived outside the venue and was whisked off in a taxi by a wayward blonde who proceeded to seduce and assail me in equal measures. The show had begun. Over the course of the ensuing ninety minutes, I became embroiled in a wonderfully anarchic adventure within a one to one enactment, as a witness to remarkable events in the lives of six solitary Adelaide figures scattered about the city. I was driven or escorted to various locations where I was met by characters who shared their desires, frustrations, paranoia and fantasies. Down dark alleyways, hotel rooms, a club basement and an empty closet, I was given a scene of crime view of the events unfolding. It was at times emotionally shocking and overall, powerful in the extreme. I came out of the whole experience completely absorbed with what I had just experienced. I still remember the stories today.
Claims for theatre's power to effect social transformation may sound grandiose and efforts to put them into practice move from the sublime to the ridiculous. But I've seen theatre agitate and activate communities. It is an effective tool and ally to radical progressive movements in society. I’ve watched people transformed when layers of deceit are exposed to reveal unpalatable truths. I’ve seen good theatre alter the denigrating or grandiose self-image of its audiences, having witnessed a reflection of themselves. I know it can happen, so I want to make work with a social conscience. I want to make work that can stand as a model of good practice, that best reflects who we are as human beings with all of our differences, embracing the myriad of threads of each of our identities.
In a culture based on fear of difference, where we constantly distance ourselves from those we are ‘othering’, we have to work harder at building bridges and celebrating difference. In my lifetime I have seen the Berlin wall pulled down, Greenham Common turned into Peace Gardens, Nelson Mandela released and raised into the halls of power as President of South Africa, A Black man, Barack Obama and his family now living in the White House. Imagine that… John Lennon tried to and they shot him.
Access all areas?
I want to include as many people from as broad a range of backgrounds and interests as possible. My work is all Disability led, although the subject matter may be far removed from disability issues. In my view disabled people within all communities are continually left off the agenda so I try to ensure that all the work I create is produced in accessible spaces. This isn’t always perfect, given the state of listed buildings in the UK. But I have found extraordinary allies in eccentric spaces. People are willing to be creative and find solutions to buildings and environments that create ridiculous barriers.
I have my own Loop system for Deaf audiences who use Loop. I work with BSL interpreters and a Consultant attached to the work I create to ensure Deaf visitors aren’t excluded from the experience. I use visual images, projections and vivid soundscapes to add to the ambience. The visuals appeal to many Deaf visitors. The soundscapes usually appeal to visually impaired visitors. I have established touch tours where one of the characters from the show invites visitors into their home – their space on stage, and introduces Blind and visually impaired audiences to the costumes, the set and props that help to add authenticity to the detail of the story for sighted audience members. For past productions where Audio description wasn’t possible, I created Audio Introduction tapes for visually impaired audience members. Audio description is not everybody’s choice. Some visually impaired people reject the idea entirely that their visit to the theatre is somehow impaired by the lack of ‘visual information’ sighted people are flooded with. I have had interesting responses from visually impaired visitors who want their own cultural experience to remain in tact, Culturally Blind, not to be re-interpreted through the filters of a sighted person describing what they think you ought to be noticing via a busy Audio tape. But some visually impaired visitors thoroughly enjoy the experience of an additional narrator who can feed in key visual cues and visual jokes that can go by unexplained without Audio Description. It’s about being offered information and choice.
I try and ensure that disabled visitors aren’t set up to fail from the moment they try to book a ticket, searching for access information or appropriate seating. Sometimes this means making a mobile phoneline available just to respond to queries from disabled visitors as some UK venues just haven’t moved forward in their thinking around customer care.
Link: Disabled Participation in the Arts (Naff title not my choice!)
