62 days until the Making Tomorrow’s Theatre Conference
I listen to Sally Wainwright’s Desert Island discs from 2016. I’m driving on the A27. It’s cloudy. A meblahblaaablaaa kind of Sunday. Sally is one of our guests at the Conference. I’m excited to meet her. And hear what she has to say. She will be in conversation with Dr. Judith Johnson. She is a writer and a director and a producer. She embodies the three strands of our SAILMAKERS project. She’s a total legend. She talks about Victoria Wood being an inspiration. Me too. Desert Island DJ Kirsty – for it was Kirsty spinning the discs/guests then – plays ‘I want to be 14 again’
I want to be fourteen again
When sex was just called number ten
And I was up to seven and a half
Boys were for love, girls were for fun
You burst out laughing if you saw a nun
Sophistication was a sports car and a chiffon scarf
I want to be fourteen again
Tattoo myself with a fountain pen
Being 14 again from time to time is good. Seeing your own toes in the sandy beach. Not being burdened by the horizon.
I get out of the car. I do washing. Loads. It’s been a long week. My blacks are covered in the rehearsal room floor and my whites have gone grey in solidarity. I eat a cheese and mustard pitta bread. Toasted and left to go cold. An Iceland gelato wafer thing. I have a cup of tea. The milk’s still good. It’s been a week. Don’t question it. I look at the Ox Eye daisies through the window. Bent out of shape by the rain. Battered. Add gardening to the list. Maybe.
I think about the covers for our SAILMAKERS coffee table photo book. I see water. The beach. A young woman with a yacht or a message in a bottle. Dropping pebbles from the pier. I book Jacqui the photographer and Lily our Advisory Board member and make plans for a dawn shoot in late August. Sea and air and rain and light have been creatively central to all three of the SAILMAKERS projects. Writing, Directing and Producing theatre. Our writers have shaped turbulent worlds past and present. Storms and floods. Beaches and pebbles. Drowning too. Loads of drowning. Directors have shaped human stories transient as the breeze. Producers have grappled with audiences’ connection to the waves of interest. Waves that we know come and go.
Lily on the beach at sunrise makes total sense.
63 days until the Making Tomorrow’s Theatre Conference
It’s Saturday. A baby seagull is on the lawn outside. She’s been there for a day now. Not flying. Not eating. Walking about. Snoozing. Live-dying and die-living, a slow-moving dapple feathered target for foxes. Inside the flat there’s conflict. Feed the bird and create dependency. Or starve it and murder through negligence. I asked Angie if we should bring her up and put her on the table on the balcony. For safety. Until she flies off. Emboldened by my care and kindness. No said Angie. She’ll jump off the table onto the floor and then be more acutely imprisoned. Within the balcony walls. Suffocated by mint and watering cans. It’s decided. We will offer it food. Angie goes out of the front door with raw fish in a yoghurt pot. She’s back. She didn’t make it down to the bird. She found a half dead bee on the stairs. She gives it sugar water and a resuss area. Now she’s out again to save the seagull. And the dog has a limp. It’s sunny and clammy and existential today. Breathe.
It’s last Tuesday. Our creative team Kate, Helen, Anna, Loz, Angela, Judith and Margaret sit around a green table in the rehearsal room at Salisbury Playhouse. I stand in front of them, slide showing a power point presentation like a seasoned power point presenter. All space bar nudges and 180-degree pivots, anxious joking and fighting the somnabulatory quality of my own voice. We don’t do talking at Separate Doors. Silence is our USP. But we need to plan 2 days of creative activity. And we do. Everyone is incredibly smart. And articulate. Ready to take the Silent Approach into new places in new ways in masterclasses at the Conference. Exciting.
It’s last Wednesday. In the rehearsal room at Salisbury Playhouse again. Lily Swift, Advisory Board member, Blue Apple actors and participants are engaging with our team and actors in a dynamic Silent Approach masterclass. Someone cries (in a good way) and Loz takes us through a development of the song. I direct Yana and Joe in a scene from HOPE VALLEY HOTEL (& Spa) and Angela leads everyone in a tea dance. Anna directs another scene. We come together. We connect and breathe. It works.
It’s yesterday. I buy hotel rooms and send emails. I check people’s availability. I look at spreadsheets. I plan a photoshoot. I budget for a couple more actors on the 22nd September. I shop for branded tote bags. I consider the philosophical and political position of integrated theatre within the sector. I eat ice cream.
It’s today again. The bee has recovered. It’s flown off.
If I was Lucy Kirkwood or James Graham or any kind of half decent scribbler with twenty minutes to spare I’d craft something witty and cogent about the nature of life and death by building a bridge from the stranded seagull and the limping dog and the emancipated bee into the precariousness of integrated theatre, the hierarchy of speech, shifting cultural mores, vocational acting as a craft, learning disabled and neurodivergent talent as a specific demographic, financial/funding constraints, censorship, criticism, AI and the vital place of theatre that is made for – and with – everyone but there’s plenty of time and space for that…62 days in fact.
A cheer for integrated ensembles
And not just ours
At Separate Doors we’re privileged to work with exceptional talent in our National Ensemble of actors with, and without, learning disabilities. We audition individuals and we also cast from excellent learning-disability focused companies across the UK.
We’re employing over 25 freelance creatives and core team members on our latest project ‘Directing Tomorrow’s Theatre.‘ Over 60 per cent of us are disabled and some of us are cancer survivors, people with long term health issues and/or caring responsibilities. Our Advisory Board of learning disabled and neurodivergent actors guides our work and we’re always developing ways to support well-being. We aim for fairness for all and we pay fairly.
All good companies with a learning disability focus have a similar management shape and way of working and there are many of these good companies.
Access All Areas, Mind The Gap and Unanima were recently rewarded with Arts Council National Portfolio (NPO) funding and organisations such as Graeae have recently expanded their work with neurodivergent artists.
Learning disability and neurodivergency are not always different things, but they can be.
A note about the word neurodivergency
Neurodivergency can be used as a descriptor for people with moderate learning disabilities such as Downs Syndrome and for people who need high levels of support in their daily lives.
Neurodivergency can also be used as a descriptor for people who are independent and have fewer support needs to work and live. This can include people who have autism, ADHD, dyslexia, dyspraxia and mental health issues.
How Separate Doors is a bit different
Our focus is on the collaborative theatre making creative process and especially on the craft of acting, rather than access (although access is vital, we’re a theatre company and not a campaigning organisation).
Secondly, our work is integrated. This means that we work with creatives with, and creatives without learning disabilities. We work as an ensemble in the rehearsal room. This means we all follow the same largely non-verbal process together, the Silent Approach. Its a collaborative process for all, whatever an actors cognitive or linguistic ability.
Our third area of difference is the kind of work we explore and share. We focus on narrative theatre, on stories and on actors as characters who deliver stories to audiences. We also work with writers and with plays.
Recent advances and things to celebrate
We work with partner organisations including Derby Theatre, Salisbury Playhouse, Lawrence Batley Theatre, Level Centre, Theatre 503 and supportive individuals including Michele Taylor MBE. Recently quoted in the Guardian, Michele spoke of the ‘bloom’ in work featuring neurodivergent actors. Writers too – the next Ramps On The Moon play Village Idiot is penned by neurodivergent writer Samson Hawkins. Much has been written about the punch of recent works from companies such as Not My Circus Dog and the stellar performances of Sarah Gordy and Leon Harrop in Ralph and Katie (BBC1). In the theatre sector there are powerful disability rights voices making sure that long overdue disability representation increases
but let’s not forget
the ensemble driven companies who work with actors with moderate learning disabilities. Companies such as our allies Dark Horse and Hubbub Theatre who train and produce work with actors with actors with challenges around speech and literacy – giving a unique opportunity to artists who can struggle to self advocate, agitate for change and project manage.
Leeds Playhouse and Ramps on the Moon had a recent success with the large integrated cast of Oliver. How good would be it be if these integrated productions happened once again beyond the larger companies and initiatives?
Aside from the intrinsic values of high quality integrated ensemble work, the integrated ensemble model supports excellent learning for all creatives, disabled and non-disabled.
At Separate Doors our aim is for integrated casts of all kinds of actors to deliver to general audiences in theatres all over the UK, as part of the general programme. The companies with integrated ensembles at their centre are a very good way of making that aim a reality.
Separate Doors residency at the Level Centre
At Separate Doors our mission is to increase the representation of people with learning disabilities in theatre, film and TV. At the centre of everything we do is our methodology, the Silent Approach – a way of working without too many words which brings equality for those of us who struggle with reading and with speech. We work across the UK and we make theatre, we run workshops, we consult for others, and we produce pamphlets and reports. And last week we had a residency at the Level Centre, in Rowsley, Derbyshire.
The Level Centre is an Arts Council National Portfolio organisation and a base and platform for artistic work which challenges traditional ideas of culture. The Level Centre has a particular objective to create opportunities for people with learning disabilities. We were absolutely delighted to be invited to be resident artists – it felt like a perfect marriage for us.
I travelled to the Peak District in the middle of Storm Franklin and spent the first day of the residency unable to reach the Centre due to the floods!
However, being away from base and having time and space to think meant I was able to create our stimulus film for the week – and a shape for the beginnings of our next performance project, HOTEL.
I pulled down video files and created a soundtrack and edited together the four minute film. At Separate Doors we make a lot of these short films.
The films serve as communicators of concept to actors who can’t or don’t like to read scripts of briefs and are a visual and visceral starting point, its a way into the theatre-making process for those of us who like to explore with our eyes and ears.
This is the film I put together on day one – in my windy cottage in Winster:
Thankfully on day two the weather lifted. This allowed me to drive again and I was amazed to see (now the wind and haze had gone) the beautiful town of Matlock in the deep cleft of a rugged gorge – the river raging on the left of me. Then an extraordinary journey down Via Gellia road, the river to my left and huge dancing trees on either side of the Valley. The work we’re developing is all about escape and finding a safe haven from an unwelcoming world so this introduction to the landscape felt perfect. Opening out into the wide river delta leading up into Rowsley I felt a real sense of finding space to ‘be’ – at the Level Centre, our home for the week.
I met Emma and Kyla – who made me very welcome – and saw me into the most fantastic space – for us as a theatre company, the perfect rehearsal space. The Level Centre is spare and minimalist and calm – and very accessible.
Next door to us in another space we experienced a wonderful installation IN THE MIX by Darius Powell and on the walls in the hallway powerful photographs SICK-GAZE, by Bella Millroy.
Both Laura and Kyla heard many delighted sounds from us during the work. Its so rare to find an uncluttered and well-equipped rehearsal space and we settled into our work very quickly.
I had a Zoom meeting with our Director of Sound Loz Kaye (Manchester to Matlock was too much of a challenge to travel to in the storm) and we explored the soundscape and influences for the score for HOTEL. At Separate Doors we always start with structure and sound and music and we discussed ideas around hotel lounge music, percussion and plans for the shape of the piece.
I laid out our props across the floor and in the afternoon actor – and advisory board member – Joe Sproulle came in to work on some movement ideas. Joe and I have an established working relationship, we brain-stormed some thoughts on the perfect hotel and then he worked with some props.
The Silent Approach is based on Stanislavskian method and endowing objects is a central part of our work.
In our next stage of development for HOTEL we plan to work with some key props and this was a start to that journey.
On day three I had a day on my own in the space to achieve two objectives, firstly to develop a story structure for the piece and secondly (with executive and producers hats on) to frame budget and schedule for the project HOTEL will sit within – Directing Tomorrow’s Theatre. Having achieved both of these things I set off to the station to pick up Faye Billing, our Director of Creative Learning.
Our advisory board guide all of our work and on day four we held a zoom meeting with them, presenting our work and asking for ideas around our concept.
Nicky Priest, Rebekah Hill and Sam Barnard gave great feedback and we will incorporate their ideas into the work moving forwards.
We left the Level Centre so grateful and happy for the opportunity to have dedicated research and development time in such a wonderful space. The team, led by Executive Director Kerry Andrews couldn’t have been more supportive or keyed into our work and what we want to achieve with, and for, people with learning disabilities and neurodivergencies.
We look forward to returning to the Level Centre with our (cross UK) national ensemble of actors with and without learning disabilities and to building our next major project in the heart of the Peak District.
This isn’t just an interval
Theatres across the UK have been closed due to the C-19 lockdown. Performances require the assembly of groups of people and the rehearsal of theatre requires close proximity. All touring work has stopped dead. Drama school graduation shows have been cancelled. Some venue staff have been furloughed and some freelance creatives (the lifeblood of theatre) have received support from Rishi Sunaks Self-employment relief fund. Arts Council England has been swift and effective in supporting companies and individuals with emergency funding but still many creatives have no income whatsoever. Nuffield Southampton has closed; Birmingham Hippodrome has made redundancies and more than a few regional theatres teeter on the brink of collapse. The Young Vic has already used up half of its reserves. The National Theatre warns of imminent catastrophe. Theatres of all scales can’t bank on producing Christmas shows, most of which accrue 50% of annual income in the eight-week festive period. The impact of swingeing cuts in government and local subsidy over the past five years has led to an increased reliance for survival on ticket sales, which stand currently at zero.
This isn’t just an interval, it’s the final curtain because whatever happens next both micro and macro-economics dictate that ‘business as usual’- a picking up of the action in the second half after a hiatus- is impossible. Theatre as it was pre C-19 is gone.
And do we want a continuation of that first half anyway? Or can a revolutionised second half take us to a better place? A stronger show?
Prior to the crisis many theatres in the subsidised sector struggled to marry a healthy bottom line with a commitment to the fullest representation of humanity on stage. Studio and identity specific silo-ing of BAME, disability and LGBTQ+ focused work meant general audiences could have been deprived of seeing high quality diverse theatre. Main house programmes- in spite of diverse casting choices and disability specific initiatives such as Ramps On The Moon– perhaps leant into the bias of main house audiences, reinforcing the lived experience of affluent people who could afford high ticket prices. The classical canon may be re-interpreted to include diverse experiences, but the voices and stories and lives entire from those communities were not as well integrated into main house programming as they could have been.
Indicatively in recent years work featuring actors with learning disabilities – my area of specialism with Separate Doors – found itself labelled ‘community-focused’ and moved into the smaller spaces or became ‘event theatre’- where once actors with Down’s Syndrome and other neuro-divergences worked alongside other actors in the headline programme.
Pre the C-19 interval there was too often one show in the main house, for those able to afford the ticket price, and one in the community centre – for everyone else.
People have died and suffered immensely in this pandemic and continue to do so. The function of theatre and story is to make meaning, entertain and inform and it will be needed to both make sense of – and divert from – so much loss and hardship in the years ahead. It must, more than ever before, be relevant to all people emotionally and economically distressed.
Today statues of slave traders, racists and colonialists are being torn down and offensive TV comedy is being removed from view. Never before have we had the ability to witness the prejudice and verbal violence of previous generations on an endless digital loop. Theatre- with the exception of the classics- always reinvents and speaks to new generations, new thought, new debate and new world views. This is our strength and our possibility.
Theatre is now and happens live; my hope is that it re-imagines itself, ignited by a deeper commitment to diverse voices and stories.
You
In the middle of the Coronavirus story that has no end – this is a story which does have an end, and a beginning and a middle…No spoilers…Enjoy this story, this twenty odd minutes off worrying about the story we’re in – a story with no end…And take care.
George Costigan introducing ‘You’
Listen to to the final story in this first phase of the Separate Doors audio story appeal, a thrilling read by Johnny Vivash introduced by the wonderful George Costigan.
News and bigger stories are coming soon from Separate Doors featuring stories and performances from leading learning disabled actors from across the UK.
Available for a limited time do listen to all of the tales in this first phase of the work and, if you feel you can, donate using the button below.
Click below to listen to ‘You’…
A Nonentity
In these physically restricted times the power of the imagination to transport us is more potent than ever. The significance of storytelling and the spoken word is intensified now.
Susannah Harker introducing ‘A Nonentity’
Have a listen to the next – and penultimate – story in this phase of the Separate Doors shorts appeal by clicking the link below and, if you feel you can, please donate to keep the stories of people with learning disabilities in front of general audiences.
Statement
My two favourite dictionary definitions of the word ‘story’ are – ‘A recital of events that have or are alleged to have happened/a series of events that are or might be related’ and – ‘A euphemism for a lie’.
Currently I watch the news as a game, spot the ‘euphemism for a lie’…
Bryony Lavery introducing ‘Statement’
Catriona McFarlane
Listen to his next story in support of Separate Doors by clicking the link below, donate if you feel you can- by no means obligatory!
Separate Doors · Statement, read by Margaret Fraser, additional voice Catriona McFarlane, introduced by Bryony Lavery