» the arts

Liverpool’s DaDaFest wins prestigious prize

Mark Glasgow — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:03:06 +0000

The international disability and deaf arts festival has scooped the Lever Prize The DaDaFest in Liverpool has won this year’s prestigious £10,000 Lever Prize, just over a year after I wrote about fears over the festival’s future funding due to Arts Council cuts. The UK’s largest disability and deaf arts festival, which attracts international artists was chosen by senior representatives of the 30 largest companies in the north west to receive the prize. In 2011, DaDaFest celebrated its 10th anniversary, having begun in 2001 as a community arts event

More here:
Liverpool’s DaDaFest wins prestigious prize

Guardian wins people’s choice award for excellence in disability journalism

Mark Glasgow — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 01:27:59 +0000

Judges praise ‘thoughtful, entertaining, rigorous and enlightened’ coverage of Guardian series on disability and the arts The Guardian’s “outstanding” coverage of disability issues was recognised on Sunday night when it picked up the first ever People’s Choice award for journalistic excellence. The publicly-nominated Ability Media International award, created by the charity Leonard Cheshire Disability, recognises “creatively excellent work that has either been produced by disabled people or promotes a greater understanding of disability issues”.

British culture needs the Arts Council’s Decibel showcase

Mark Glasgow — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 16:55:15 +0000

Great art depends on great diversity. So why is an event that celebrates performers from all backgrounds under threat? Handling the solitary remaining testicle of an ex-cancer patient, live on stage, isn’t the most obvious way to spend a weekday afternoon

Excerpt from:
British culture needs the Arts Council’s Decibel showcase

Philip French: my life as a stammerer

Paul — Sun, 26 Dec 2010 00:05:05 +0000

The Observer’s film critic reflects on The King’s Speech – and how his own speech impediment has contributed to his life and character From as early as I can remember until 1952, when I left home at the age of 18 to go into the army, there was an annual ritual on the afternoon of Christmas Day. Dinner, which meant turkey and all the trimmings followed by plum pudding, began around two o’clock and was carefully timed to end so that everyone could sit there beneath the paper decorations, wearing the hats that came out of the crackers, and earnestly, reverently listen to the king’s Christmas message on the radio. This hallowed national tradition, initiated by Sir John Reith in 1932, was not five years old when George V, who’d given four of them, died

Go here to read the rest:
Philip French: my life as a stammerer

STAGETEXT Captioning: 10 Years On

Paul — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 09:22:58 +0000

Gwion Wyn Jones in Oliver! With kind permission of Cameron Mackintosh Limited. Photo: Simon Annand

This November marks the 10th anniversary of STAGETEXT, which pioneered theatre captioning in the UK back in 2000. The charity’s Lynn Jackson explains how they’ve helped make theatre more accessible.

“Computers, iPods, BlackBerrys – STAGETEXT captioning is right up there with all the modern miracles of invention!”

So says a 69 year old retired school secretary who was deafened 10 years ago after a major operation. “I lost my job, friends drifted away, social life was difficult and although reading and teletext were pleasurable, they did not offer social interaction,” she explains.

“Who doesn’t enjoy a trip to the theatre, enjoying a good performance, and meeting friends? Captioning has made all this possible for me,” she adds.

STAGETEXT

That’s just one example of how captioned theatre has improved quality of life for many of the UK’s nine million deaf, deafened and hard of hearing people, enabling them to enjoy theatre with their family and friends – sometimes for the first time ever.

This November marks the 10th anniversary of STAGETEXT, the charity which pioneered theatre captioning in the UK. Before 2000, access for deaf and hard of hearing people had been restricted to sign language interpretation and sound enhancement systems; now, here was a new service that catered specifically for hard of hearing theatregoers, many who nevertheless saw themselves as very much part of the hearing world.

The captions are very similar to television subtitles, but include additional useful information for deaf audiences, such as the name of the person who is speaking, sound effects, offstage noises and musical descriptions.

Stagetext provide text for the deaf at a performance of Romeo and his Juliet in the Bristol Old Vic.

HOW DOES IT ALL WORK?

Unlike English captions for operas performed in a foreign language, the STAGETEXT caption unit is placed as near to the stage as possible – sometimes even on the set. Positioning will vary from show to show, depending on the set design, lighting states, sound equipment and any moving scenery.

As the captions scroll upwards on the high definition LED display boards – on three lines of amber text – deaf, deafened and hard of hearing audiences can follow what is said, when, and by whom. STAGETEXT promotes open captioning, which means that the captions can be seen by everyone; our aim being to give caption users an experience as close as possible to that of the hearing audience.

So, is it just a case of loading the script into a computer and pressing the ‘on’ button at the right time? If only it were that simple! Captioning combines a number of skills – excellent attention to detail, such as spelling and punctuation, and the ability to maintain concentration for long periods of time.

Romeo and his Juliet in the Bristol Old Vic. Photo: Mike Lusmore

PREPARATION

Preparation is everything in the art of captioning, and knowing a production well is vital in order to get the timing right so that the deaf and hearing audience laugh or react to a joke or important punchline at the same time.

A trained captioner prepares the captions in advance using an electronic version of the script which they then convert into bespoke STAGETEXT captioning software.

Captioners also rehearse at home with a DVD of the production and need to check their captions several times at the theatre, marking any pauses or punch lines, deletions or amendments which may need to be discussed with the production team. The whole preparation process can take at least 80 hours.

HOW DID CAPTIONING START?

STAGETEXT was set up by three people with varying degrees of deafness – Peter Pullan, Merfyn Williams and Geoff Brown. All three were passionate about the arts and felt strongly about the lack of access to mainstream theatre.

“Until we set up STAGETEXT, access had been restricted to sound enhancement systems and sign language,” explains Peter. “Sign language is a problem for me because, although I’m quite deaf, I don’t understand it. Loop systems or sound enhancement are great but not perfect and don’t give me full access. With captioning, I am able to follow everything and laugh or react at the same time as everyone else.”

Actors warm up prior to captioned performance of Life's A Dream at Donmar Warehouse. Photo: Matt Humphrey.

Six months after its first captioned performance (of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s The Duchess of Malfi at the Barbican Theatre), STAGETEXT had captioned a further seven performances in seven venues. A decade on, the charity captions around 200 shows a year in about 75 venues, and has also worked with 40 other theatres, plus independent services in Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, to help them set up their own captioning services. There are now some 500 captioned performances every year, and the number continues to grow.

LIVE EVENTS PROJECT

Thanks to a two-year grant from the Esmée Fairburn Foundation and the Monument Trust, STAGETEXT is now branching out its services into museums, galleries and heritage sites.

Lectures and talks will be made accessible by speech-to-text transcription which converts live dialogue into English text. The first talk, on ‘Gauguin and the Glasgow Boys’ at the Royal Academy of Art on 1 November, was fully booked within two weeks; the next captioned talk will be at the National Gallery in mid-November.

Back in the theatre, this November will also see a special anniversary performance of Disney’s The Lion King – celebrating the charity’s 10^th anniversary and also the fact that, by the end of the year, STAGETEXT will have captioned more than 1,500 theatre performances.

The Artistic Director at the acclaimed Donmar Warehouse, Michael Grandage, says: “Captioned performances are now an integral part of the theatregoing experience and it has been a particular pleasure for everyone at the Donmar to build a regular and dedicated audience of deaf, deafened and hard of hearing people over the last decade. STAGETEXT is an invaluable company offering a great service and I wish them well for the next 10 years.”

More: To find out about STAGETEXT, and to receive their free Performance Diary, email Rosie Holmes: rosie@stagetext.org. For details of the Live Events programme, contact Deepa Shastri: deepa@stagetext.org.

DEAFNESS IN THE UK

An estimated nine million people in the UK are deaf, deafened or hard of hearing – that’s one in seven of the population;
698,000 people are severely or profoundly deaf;
123,000 people over the age of 16 are deafened;
50,000 people in the UK use British Sign Language as their first or preferred language;
55% of people over the age of 60 have age-related deafness
An estimated 3.6 million people with a hearing loss would find it difficult to follow a theatre production even with a hearing aid.

FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Audience Development: setting up 10 social groups in London area to generate more ‘bums on seats’ for captioned shows, drawing on the models of the Sheffield and Chesterfield Caption Support Groups;
Access to talks in museums and galleries through speech-to-text transcription (STT);
Ongoing development of voice recognition technology for use in museums, galleries and heritage sites.

Prestigious Art Prize Winner Announced

Paul — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 13:32:28 +0000

Dirty Words for Disabled People, by Caroline Cardus.

Artist Caroline Cardus has been announced as the winner of the annual Adam Reynolds Memorial Bursary, set up in memory of sculptor Adam Reynolds, which supports a disabled artist working in the visual arts.

Caroline will receive £5,000 and enjoy a three-month residency at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead from March to June 2011. She is “delighted” about the prospect of exhibiting at the world-renowned arts hub.

“The Adam Reynolds Memorial Bursary at BALTIC will give me valuable time to explore and develop ongoing themes in my work, and to further investigate where my work sits with regard to disability art and mainstream art practice,” she said.

Caroline Cardus

Caroline work explores the themes of language and identity, and the juxtaposition of popular culture and sub-cultures.

“I plan to use the residency to explore the way online culture is changing the way people communicate, and what I believe is a natural link between using language subversively and the potential to use it creatively to explore, subvert and reveal the unspoken dynamics surrounding it,” she added.

Caroline was chosen from an all female shortlist of artists, which the organisers at Shape Arts say was stronger and more numerous than ever before.

BALTIC’s Head of Learning and Engagement, Emma Thomas, said: “Caroline’s work, which often starts with text, introduces humour and wit to deal with some very powerful and emotive issues. Some of her work is about the experience of being disabled and she is hoping through this residency to connect with a wider audience at BALTIC and to develop new work. We are looking forward to working with her throughout 2011 and hope that this opportunity proves not only beneficial to her career but also BALTIC’s understanding and commitment to working with disabled artists.”

The bursary, now in its fourth year continues to grow from strength to strength. Previous winners have exhibited at Spike Island in Bristol, The Camden Arts Centre in London and the Bluecoat in Liverpool.

Arts organisation Shape, which co-ordinates the annual Bursary, are thrilled to be working with Caroline Cardus and the BALTIC to showcase disability arts in the North-East.

More: www.adamreynoldsbursary.org.uk/

Oska Bright Film Festival Calls for Entries

Paul — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 13:42:32 +0000

Kids Today by The Cedar Centre, Brighton

The 5th international festival of short films made by people with learning difficulties is inviting submissions for the 2011 festival.

The Oska Bright film festival is looking for films under 10 minutes long. They can be in any genre, from live action or animation to documentary or dance-film. Films can be made by groups or individuals in the UK or abroad; they must have people with learning difficulties in control.

The deadline for entries is Tuesday 30 April 2011 and the Festival takes place over 3 days in November 2011, in Brighton.

More: For information on how to enter, call 01273 234 734, email oskabright@carousel.org.uk or visit www.oskabright.co.uk.

First UK Disability Film Festival Marks UN Day

Paul — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 10:01:09 +0000

The UK’s first national Disability Film Festival Day takes place at cinemas across the UK on Friday 3 December, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

The festival is organised by DASH, one of the UK’s leading Disability Arts organisations, with the support of ScreenWM, Oska Bright, the Media Archive for Central England (MACE), The Eveson Charitable Trust, The Elmley Foundation and the BBC.

Many venues will be adding extra events including, seminars, workshops, presentations, interviews with filmmakers and even ‘how to direct a film’ workshops. For more information, check out the festival website or venues for more details.

Details of all films are available on www.disabilityfilmfestival.eu or DASH’s own website, www.dasharts.org.

Participating venues include:

Venues:

Birmingham MAC: www.macarts.co.uk

Bristol Watershed: www.watershed.co.uk

Cardiff Chapter: www.chapter.org

Coventry The Herbert: www.theherbert.org

Exeter Phoenix: www.exeterphoenix.org.uk

Glasgow Film Theatre: www.gft.org.uk

Gloucester Guidlhall: www.gloucester.gov.uk/guildhall

Herefordshire Rurual Media: www.ruralmedia.co.uk

Inverness Eden Court: www.eden-court.co.uk

Lancaster The Dukes: www.dukes-lancaster.org

Leicester Phoenix Square: www.phoenix.org.uk

London BFI Southbank: www.bfi.org.uk

Manchester Cornerhouse: www.cornerhouse.org

Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Tyneside: www.tynesidecinema.co.uk

Nottingham Broadway: www.broadway.org.uk

Sheffield Showroom: www.showroomworkstation.org.uk

Stockton-on-Tees ARC: www.arconline.co.uk

Shrewsbury The Space: www.dasharts.org

Stoke-on-Trent Film Theatre: www.stokefilmtheatre.org.uk

Strule Arts Centre: www.struleartscentre.co.uk

West Bromwich The Public: www.thepublic.com

Wolverhampton Light House: www.light-house.co.uk

New Photography Competition Launched

Paul — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 15:28:24 +0000

Disability charity Papworth Trust has launched its first photography competition, Independence, with prizes including a Sony Handycam DCR-DVD 115E camera worth more than £300.

The competition will be judged by a panel including internationally reknowned photographer David Rose. Entries can be digital images or prints, and the competition will be judged in three categories: 16 and under, over 16s, and professional photographers or previous photography competition winners.

The independence theme has been chosen to make the competition as accessible as possible. Interpretations could include running your own life without interference or not relying on someone or something.

The judging panel comprises of:

Professional photographer David Rose, winner of several major UK and overseas Press Awards. A former staff photographer with the Independent newspaper, David covers many issues in Britain and the developing world, and now works for a range of titles
Olivia Abbott has worked in magazines and newspapers for two decades and since 2007 has been editor of Agenda. She is also a keen amateur photographer.
Chris Williams spent many years as a partner in a creative agency, frequently directing top professional photographers. In 2007 he started Williams Art, in Cambridge.
Papworth Trust client Gordon Carter is a keen amateur photographer. He also volunteers with BBC Radio Cambridgeshire.
Anna Brim works in Papworth Trust’s HR department. She is also currently studying towards a Photography degree and works part time as a freelance photographer.

Papworth Trust will display the winning entries in an online gallery, at an exhibition at Williams Art in Cambridge, and at Papworth Trust Centres in Basildon, Bury St Edmunds, Cambridge, Ipswich, Huntingdon and Sawston.

For a copy of the terms and conditions, and details of how to enter please visit www.papworth.org.uk, email photocomp@papworth.org.uk or write to Papworth Trust Photography Competition, Bernard Sunley Centre, Papworth Everard, Cambridge CB23 3RG.

Disabled Artists Shortlisted for Memorial Bursary

Paul — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 14:43:06 +0000

Seven artists have been shortlisted for the Adam Reynolds Memorial Bursary 2010-11.

The bursary, now in its fourth year, is available to ‘mid-career’ disabled or deaf artists working in the field of visual arts. The successful artist will be selected by the end of November following interviews at this year’s host venue, the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, where the selected artist will be awarded a three-month residency and £5,000.

Applications for this year’s bursary were stronger and more numerous than ever before, according to coordinating organisation Shape. The broad spectrum of work by disabled artists from across the country confirms the bursary as one of the most significant commissioning opportunities for disabled artists in the UK.

This year’s all-female shortlist includes the following artists; Katherine Araniello, Sue Austin, Caroline Cardus, Rachel Gadsden, Alison Jones, Sinead O’Donnell and Zoe Partington-Sollinger.

The various artists’ themes, as well as the mediums used, show the dynamic mix of the work that now exists. Caroline Cardus bases her work around the inexplicable routines and rituals disabled people go through in everyday life, while Rachel Gadsden explores the universal human themes of hope and fragility in her figurative pieces.

Past work by shortlisted artists range from Alison Jones’ site specific sound interventions to Katherine Araniello’s short films giving subversive slants on disability representation.

Emma Thomas, BALTIC Head of Learning and Engagement said: “We were delighted with the high standard and variety of the bursary applications, which made the short listing process both a delight but also quite a challenge.

“That aside, we are extremely confident that the chosen artist will be a major asset to BALTIC’s creative team,” she added. “We are looking forward to working with them throughout their 3 month residency and see this as a real opportunity for them to develop their practise and enhance their career.”

Shape are currently exhibiting the work of last year’s winner Aaron Williamson, along with that of other shortlisted artists. Previous winners have exhibited at Spike Island (Bristol), Bluecoat Gallery (Liverpool) and Camden Arts Centre, London.

More: www.shapearts.org.uk

Old Masters Inspire Alzheimer’s Groups

Tom — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 09:49:38 +0000

People with dementia have been encouraged to engage with art through a joint project by the National Gallery and Alzheimer’s Society.

The project was organised and funded by Credit Suisse who partner with the National Gallery, and support Alzheimer’s Society through the UK Charity of the Year 2010 programme.

The innovative project, part of the National Gallery’s outreach programme, consisted of a series of practical art workshops, titled Ageing Creatively, delivered in the London boroughs of Hounslow and Tower Hamlets. The workshops were followed by a visit to the National Gallery.

The aim was to encourage people with dementia to engage with and respond to the collection by creating their own works of art. The Ageing Creatively project followed the success of The Line of Vision project which saw The National Gallery partner with The Place2Be, Credit Suisse’s Charity of the Year in 2008 and 2009.

Artists
Al Johnson and Thomas Gosebruch, the freelance artists who lead the Ageing Creatively programme, chose a series of paintings by Sassetta titled The Life of Saint Francis of Assisi which tells an engaging and thought-provoking life story from youth to death with simplicity and directness. Participants experimented with a variety of art materials and techniques during two practical workshops and produced a series of images inspired by Sassetta’s paintings.

The final session for each group comprised a visit to the National Gallery, where participants toured the collection and saw the original paintings by Sassetta that inspired their own artworks.
Ruth Sutherland, Interim Chief Executive at Alzheimer’s Society, said: “It is fantastic that through Alzheimer’s Society’s Charity of the Year partnership with Credit Suisse, people with dementia were able to benefit from art sessions with the National Gallery.”
Socialise
“Being creative is very beneficial for people with dementia. It can boost their self-esteem, provide a sense of focus and well-being, and give an opportunity to socialise and keep the mind active. The workshops also offered a unique opportunity to meet an artist, learn new skills, and engage with art in a new way.”

James Leigh-Pemberton, Chief Executive of Credit Suisse in the UK added: “We are delighted to bring together our partners, the National Gallery and Alzheimer’s Society, to collaborate in a unique and fulfilling opportunity for people living with dementia in London. We extend particular thanks to the National Gallery for facilitating the Ageing Creatively programme.”

Have a Creative:Christmas

Paul — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 12:26:34 +0000

Families with disabled children in London can enjoy a couple of hours of informal, interactive creative arts workshops and music, courtesy of creative:christmas.

Arts charity Create invites you to the Upper Hall, St Mary’s Church, High Street, Putney, London.

During each two-hour informal, interactive, Christmas-themed workshop – starting at 10.30am and 2pm – five of Create’s professional musicians (a flautist, a percussionist, a clarinettist, an accordion player and a double bass player) will help disabled children and other members of their families and local communities to decorate crowns, make Christmas decorations, sing Christmas songs, listen to music and try out instruments!

Entry costs £4 per child, with accompanying adults free.

More: call Anna Schilling on 020 7374 8485, email: anna@createarts.org.uk, visit www.createarts.org.uk

Disabled Children and Families Get Musical

Paul — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 16:42:40 +0000

More than 40 families travelled to Henry Wood Hall in London to take part in creative: space, an interactive music events for disabled children and their families.

Launched in 2005 by arts charity Creative, the event makes high quality music and other creative activities accessible to those who are so often excluded because their behavior is deemed ‘inappropriate’ or ‘disruptive’.

The events create an environment in which disabled children and their families can enjoy a social time together, feel special and have fun in an informal environment specifically tailored to their needs.

Concerts are informal with seating around tables, with music performed by professional musicians such as the Antonio Forcione Quartet and pianist Derek Paravicini, who is blind and has severe learning difficulties. Interactive participative activities are led by Create’s workshop leader, with plenty of space for movement. Percussion instruments are handed out for part of the event so that families can join in the music-making and have fun!

Bridget Shepheard, who has been coming to creative:space with her autistic son Felix since 2005, explained: “For Felix, the event gets better every time because he understands more of what will happen. At the beginning he was really shy about joining in, for example, and now he will often go and have a little dance by himself at the front!

“He also really likes making masks and crowns and loves stickers, so the craft activities have been great for him. The crowns have even been worn at birthday parties, he just loves dressing up!

“What I enjoy most about creative:space is that the music changes every time we go, so Felix gets exposed to something new,” she added. “When the swing band was playing, he even got to have a go on their instruments – he absolutely loved the drum kit! The workshop leaders are great as well, really inspiring in the way that they interact with the participants – they’re not too upset if they don’t get a big response.”

The charity’s Co-Founder and Executive Director, Nicky Goulder, added: “We are delighted to have developed an event that parents tell us is enabling the whole family to go out together, be themselves and have fun. It is such a joy to see everyone access the event in the way that is right for them and feel relaxed, confident and included. What a privilege for us as organisers to see smiles on so many faces.”

More: www.createarts.org.uk

Reasons To Be Cheerful

Paul — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 01:01:34 +0000

Leading disability-led theatre company Graeae marked its 30th anniversary with a populist, but spirited musical featuring the songs of the late Ian Dury. Able magazine was invited behind the scenes.

WORDS: PAUL F COCKBURN.

1979: it’s a time of change, and disabled people in Britain are feeling increasingly excluded and threatened by the talk of cuts to benefits and public services that’s coming from the new Conservative Government.

2010: it’s a time of change, and disabled people in Britain are feeling increasingly excluded and threatened by the talk of cuts to benefits and public services that’s coming from the new Conservative-led Coalition Government….

Oh dear. Ever get the sense that we’ve been here before?

FAMILIAR NOISES

Disability-led theatre company Graeae’s latest production is a musical featuring the songs of the late, great Ian Dury. Reasons To Be Cheerful is set in 1979, at the height of Dury’s fame with ‘The Blockheads’, but it’s being performed now — and both cast and crew are all too aware of the connections.

For Graeae’s Artistic Director, Jenny Sealey, the personal relevances of the production are about marking Graeae’s 30th anniversary and the decade since Ian Dury’s death, but she’s the first to point out how it’s ‘horribly relevant‘ the show now is, given that a Conservative Prime Minister once again lives in Downing Street. “You just sit and read the script, and the lyrics, and think — ‘Oh God, what’s changed? Nothing.‘ So it’s really relevant,” she tells Able magazine during a break for lunch during the first week of proper rehearsals.

Playwright Paul Sirett, who also performs as part of the on-stage band, agrees. “We’re in the throws of all the cuts again, and who knows quite where we’re going,” he says. “Obviously, these are different times; it’s a Coalition Government, but the noises that I hear coming from the Tories are very similar to the noises we were listening to back then.”

RIGHT SHOW, RIGHT TIME

Not that the show was necessarily intended to be political with even a small ‘p’. Jenny says: “Ian Dury was a patron [of Graeae] and when he died it was, like, ‘Oh damn! We never did anything with him when he was alive.’ When I took over the company, my partner was then working at Theatre Royal Stratford East as the Education Director. He said I should really talk to the director of the theatre, Kerry Michael, about doing a show about Ian Dury. So then I started talking to Kerry, and then we sort of talked to the writer, Paul Sirett.”

According to Jenny the show proved remarkably easy to cast, yet it’s nevertheless taken some time to get ‘from page to stage’. “It’s been at least five years since we first started talking about doing the show,” says Paul, “and then for one reason or another — availabilities, and all the kind of stuff that happens — it’s only now that it’s finally come to fruition. I’m sure some people will say: ‘Oh, it’s another Ian Dury’ — after the film, after the West End musical ‘Hit Me’ — but we started working on this years ago, and it just so happens that we’re doing it now.”

While putting together a show using Ian Dury’s songs wasn’t Paul’s idea, as a full-on Dury fan he was keen to be involved. “I always thought Dury’s songs were very theatrical,” he explains. “There’s a lot of music hall and showbiz in there already. A lot of them are character-based songs; they’re begging for that treatment, really. So the only question was then: do we write the ‘biog’ or a story with the songs. We’ve ended up doing something that’s neither of those, it’s a bit of everything. I wanted it to be full of raw and anarchic energetic in just the way I felt Ian Dury and his music came to us.”

BLOW-OUT

Able magazine visited Graeae at the end of the first full week of rehearsals, and was privileged to sit in on the first run-through of the entire show. Even in this ‘rough’ state, with cast members holding scrawed-on scripts, it’s clearly a show with a genuine story to tell about ordinary people, families and friendship — powered by Dury’s music. And the multi-ability cast have a phenomenal energy and commitment to the piece; they’re not afraid to fling their bodies around or take risks — and ‘be punk’.

Yet with up to 15 musicians and performers on stage, plus the prominence that comes from a three week run at Theatre Royal Stratford East (following an earlier run at the New Wolsey Theatre Ipswich), Reasons To Be Cheerful is also the biggest show that Graeae’s ever done. “It’s very terrifying but, knowing that Graeae’s Art Council funding will be cut by 10% next year, the timing could not be better,” says Jenny. “This is our last big blow-out before we may have to reduce the size of the company in line with what’s happening, before we can start to build it up again.”

One thing’s clear from our time in the rehearsal room — the cast have already gelled together and are enjoying themselves. “There’s a great, playful, committed spirit in this room, and you don’t always get that — there’s a bit of the punk anarchy in the room,” says actor Karen Spicer. “You can’t be in a room with this fantastic band and fantastic performers — who I’m very privileged to be working with — giving it all with Ian Dury songs, and not feel bloody good.”

DOING DURY JUSTICE

The man performing many of the songs is John Kelly who, while not a professional actor, has some 30 years gigging experience behind him. “Yeah, this is probably the only bit of musical theatre that I’d be able to play in and feel comfortable,” he admits. Nevertheless, he’s been fascinated by the rehearsal process. “This week I’ve really started to understand the interaction between the characters and the narrative and the songs.”

Does Jenny Sealey think that Dury would approve of what they’ve created? “I think we’re being faithful to his songs,” she says. “The time is ready for punk again, because with the new Government we’re going to have to start a whole new fight. The world for disabled people is looking like it’s going to get a hell of a lot worse, so maybe the punk ethos is ready for a whole new arrival. And that’s the other important element of doing the play.”

So, what are her hopes for Reasons To Be Cheerful? “What would be brilliant is if we attract a whole new audience for Graeae’s work, and for audiences — and the theatres that have booked us — to recognise that disability is part of the fabric of humanity, and not a thing to be fearful of,” she says. “I hope it smashes through a whole host of attitudes and barriers — that’s what I want.”

How very Ian Dury!

More: www.graeae.org

DaDaFest International 2010: Objects of Curiosity and Desire

Paul — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 11:22:46 +0000

The UK’s largest deaf and disability arts festival celebrates its 10^th year by bringing together disabled and non-disabled artists from across the world to perform and exhibit in venues across Liverpool – and also, for the first time, in Glasgow!

The theme of the DaDaFest International 2010 (18 November-3 December) is ‘Objects of Curiosity and Desire’. What is it that makes people stop and look? What do they find so fascinating? Are deaf and disabled people seen as objects of curiosity and desire?

Highlights of the festival include:

The UK premiere of Heidi Latsky’s GIMP – the New York dance sensation featuring four disabled and four non-disabled dancers.
Work from Yinka Shonibare MBE, whose work recently graced Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth.
A sneak preview of acclaimed playwright Kaite O’Reilly’s new work for the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad.
Performances and workshops by Leroy Moore and his group of disability Hip Hop artists.
Mat Fraser, recently seen in Channel 4’s Castoff, will be featuring in numerous performances throughout the festival – including the UK premiere of his new show with Julie Atlas Muz, the Freak and The Showgirl, in Glasgow.

Artistic Director for DaDaFest International 2010, Garry Robson, says: “This year we wanted to take DaDaFest to a whole new realm of creativity. We have secured some truly fantastic artists from all over the world.

“DaDaFest is here to present the work of deaf and disabled artists whose work is on a par with mainstream artists,” he added. “Disabled and deaf people are not simply passive consumers of a tragic destiny but active participants in all areas of life, with a unique and valuable cultural perspective that we plan to share during DaDaFest International 2010.”

More: 0151 707 1733, events@dadafest2010.co.uk, www.dadafest2010.co.uk