A cheer for integrated ensembles

And not just ours

George Webster, actor, dancers with Alice Rogers, actor, both in a waltz hold. They both wear black rehearsal clothes and there is a theatre space behind them. They are serious and concentratiog.
Dark Horse actor Alice Rogers and Separate Doors National Ensemble actor George Webster at the Lawrence Batley Theatre. Photograph by Ant Robling.

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.

A female actor in rehearsal blacks stands on a stage with a semi circle of actors behind her. She is in profile, looking to the left of the photo. She has arms lifted up, following an exercise. She looks serious.
National Ensemble actor Yana Penrose at the Lawrence Batley Theatre. Photo by Ant Robling.

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.

National Ensemble actor and Silent Approach mentor Margaret Fraser plays a scene with National Ensemble actor Meghan Denton at the Lawrence Batley Theatre. Photo by Ant Robling.

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.

An actor in black rehearsal clothes smiles to the right of camera and holds her arms out in front of her.
National Ensemble actor Rebekah Hill at the Lawrence Batley Theatre. Photo by Ant Robling.

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.

Our Advisory Board, left to right and clockwise: Sam Barnard, Rebekah Hill, Nicky Priest, Gareth John, Izzy Noake, Joe Sproulle and Charlene Salter.

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?

ice cream

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.

faces

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

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’

george and johnny

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’…

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’

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

Out Here

Storytelling is how we make sense of our world and how we recognise our common humanity, that we’re not alone. Usually, in theatre, we bring people together into a shared space but at the moment we can’t do that – but we still have the stories – and we can still share them.

Mike Kenny introducing ‘Out Here’

Mike Kennny introduces ‘Out Here’ read by Geoff Cantor

Listen to this next story in support of Separate Doors by clicking the link below.

THE MOST VULNERABLE: People with learning disabilities in residential care during the Coronavirus pandemic.

“Corona virus may force doctors into deciding who lives or dies.”

New York Times

 

“We are making difficult choices.”

Italian Doctor.

 

“Many loved ones will die.”

Boris Johnson

RUxNODMwODYzMzk=

The plan this weekend had been to visit my sister Fiona, a 55-year-old woman with Downs Syndrome, at her residential care home in Kent.  These visits have taken place once or twice a month for the past 35 years and the format I undertake with my 91-year-old mother is a well-oiled routine, a sequence of familiar actions punctuated by stress relieving rows. A standard Sunday pick up – these days – shapes up thus; I drive us both through winding B roads, bickering with ascending intensity until muted by Elaine Paige’s romp through the musicals on Radio 2. Wine gums are chewed, pedestrians along the route doing out of the ordinary things are remarked upon, houses for sale are noted, houses desired smiled at, driving choices criticised and news bulletins tuned into on the hour. Eventually, with loosened fillings and raised blood pressure, we swoop down a twisting lane which opens out into a stunningly beautiful valley, a garden of England picture postcard arrangement of oaks and dirty sheep and rhododendrons and we arrive. The care home has 70 plus residents with severe learning disabilities, living in groups of between 6 and 8, in an assortment of 1970’s chalet style bungalows, most named after a bird and a couple named after trees- perhaps after all the accessible bird names had been used up, the kind of distracting rumination I’ll use to diffuse the inevitable pre doorbell argument and in we go.  Over the three decades that Fiona’s been resident in the house there have been countless carers on the staff, some brilliant and some appalling, a couple of eye wateringly successful thieves who helped themselves to residents’ money and belongings but in the main hard working, poorly paid and undertrained people who want to do the right thing. Fiona is found either in the living room or conservatory, she grunts an acknowledgement, her cheek is offered and kisses given, fellow residents either ignore or ferociously engage me in conversation and after some encouragement we all make our way into her bedroom. Medication is signed for and I pack her bag while my mother converses with a carer, enquiring after activities undertaken, pottery, trips to the pub, her weekly attendance at a group in a neighbouring town and whether Fiona needs anything to be purchased. Invariably there is something required and this younger sister groans at the idea of wandering around Matalan resulting in another row as we leave the house. However, Fiona gets to spend time with Mum and for both of them this is precious and for me it’s precious too in a slightly different way because in between the rows and the reluctance love exists and there’s always a hollow feeling on the return journey and on leaving her again. It’s painful and it takes trust, which walks hand in hand with its darker companion – fear.

Aughton-care-home

 

Last Wednesday, which already seems an epoch ago in terms of the coronavirus crisis, it had become clear that the elderly and those with pre-existing health conditions and, like my sister, with severe disabilities, were most vulnerable to infection. I had a cold and knew that both my sister and my mother needed to be protected from my germs but, more crucially I was concerned about my sister becoming ill while at home with us both. She’d be unlikely to co-operate with medical intervention, could deteriorate very quickly and then wouldn’t be able to return to her care home. Although my mother is a robust and pretty healthy 91-year-old I was aware that the ‘risk’ box in this particular swat analysis – headlined the pros and cons of Fiona coming home for a weekend – screamed in a bold red font.

I emailed the care manager and suggested that we postpone our planned trip this weekend, that Fiona stay where she is and that we would re-arrange at a later point. I asked if perhaps we could Skype or What’s App video call so that vital contact can be maintained.  Fiona’s limited communication and speech means that without contact and re-assurance she can quickly fall into a very lonely and lost place. Her understanding exceeds her ability to express but how could she possibly understand that her mother and sister have just disappeared? Except to imagine the worst, she has like all of us experienced death and deep grief but to go through that due to a lack of contact is a horrific thought. The reply to my email came quickly, I’d pre-empted the home’s plans to lockdown which it then proceeded to do and we were assured that Fiona’s safety was a priority.

home

The concern for Fiona and her fellow residents is twofold. One is of direct infection with Covid-19 and the other is the fallout from staff sickness. The doors have shut to the outside world in terms of family visits but care staff are people too and it’s likely that at some point the virus will enter this enclosed population. In common with many people with Downs Syndrome Fiona has always struggled with colds, with breathing and the Coronavirus might affect her very badly. She needs twenty-four-hour care, help to dress, eat, wash, go to the toilet and make choices. In an emergency situation, if staff numbers fall drastically and residents are also ill then what happens? What choices are made and by whom? Has all contact with the outside world and all activities stopped for all residents and what’s the effect of that? Do doctors come into the home? Do residents go into hospital? Are we freeing up ICU beds in order to treat people with severe learning disabilities?

I don’t want to ask those questions because I fear the answers.

care h

Reports over recent days suggest care homes being given ‘emergency’ powers to make decisions for their residents, in camera. Where once there was scrutiny and transparency with regard to the care of the most vulnerable members of society now the drawbridges have come up and the curtains have been firmly closed, so how do we trust the right decisions to be made?

I’ve written about the Nazi holocaust of people with disabilities in my play Hypothermia and find the parallels in language and inaction of that de-sensitising process with our current crisis chilling.

What we can do…

Individual and collective action may help.

I’m formulating a letter and mechanism which means all relatives attached to residents at my sister’s care home have at least the means to communicate with and see their loved ones via the internet and suggest that this is rolled out wherever it’s helpful – even if it’s just using someone’s mobile to make a What’s App call to the outside world, it will make all the difference to my sister and may well do to others.

We need to make people aware of what’s going on in residential care homes, that there are whole communities which are being cut off and finding digital ways to reach these people. My Separate Doors project has involved face to face contact but it can work just as well virtually, providing people with learning disabilities with a means to meet and connect and I  hope Arts Council England will support this work in this way moving forwards, its so needed.

With whatever democratic tools are left and to hand we need to make sure the right to life of people in care homes is articulated and upheld and we must keep the voices of the voiceless heard.

I don’t know when or if I’ll see my sister again.

Right now, a bad-tempered drive through the Kent countryside with a grumpy mother, followed by a reluctant shopping trip with a sister in tow,  would be absolutely wonderful.

 

hallway

 

 

 

A Happy New Year and a hopeful new decade

Separate Doors aims to encourage the representation of the lives of people with learning disabilities in theatre for general audiences.

Last year the Separate Doors project worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company, The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, six theatre companies, twenty theatre makers and actors, six playwrights and fifteen vocational actors with learning disabilities.

We explored the Silent Approach, a non verbal rehearsal method, in master classes.

We hosted a forum at RADA for fifty industry influencers and published the Separate Doors 3 report, distributed in print format to producing theatres in the UK.

The Separate Doors 3 report will be available soon in digital format via http://www.separate doors.org as will audio recordings of interviews and panel debates.

Our aim for next year is to encourage the training, casting and engagement of more actors and people with learning disabilities in our theatre and our performance culture.

We’re looking for new partners, do be in touch if you’d like to be involved.

Here are some quotes from the report.

The issue today is with disabled artists themselves blocking out non-disabled performers. You’ve got to get people working together, people with all different kinds of diversities. All different backgrounds, viewpoints, races and abilities and disabilities working together.

Nicky Priest, actor and stand up comedian with Asperger’s Syndrome

I hope more and more directors, working across the country in different companies, at different scales, feel confident to cast an actor with learning disabilities.

Hannah Miller, Head of Casting, Royal Shakespeare company

The kind of expertise Separate Doors offers needs to be rolled out and be made more accessible to people making integrated work.

Ben Weatherill, writer (Jellyfish, Bush Theatre and National Theatre)

I thought the Silent Approach master class and method was truly democratic and taking away language really interesting because I’m always questioning how you can make high quality theatre with actors with learning disabilities.

Nathalie Carrington, Artistic Director, This New Ground.

The Silent Approach has given me a lot to think about in my own practice.

Nickie Miles-Wildin, Director.

The Silent Approach is a dynamic method, it may have been non verbal but it certainly wasn’t silent, it was speaking very profoundly.

Amanda Whittington, Playwright.

Separate Doors shines a light on the many different ways of working within our very niche sector and its so important to keep learning disability on the agenda in the way that it does. Its also so good to challenge people, especially around language, in the way that the Silent Approach does.

Nick Llewellyn, Artistic Director, Access All Areas.

Its important to feel connected to the sector. Separate Doors helps to bolster that and to ground that and so it’s really useful.

Ben Pettitt-Wade, Artistic Director, Hijinx.

I think all of us felt deeply moved and changed by the Silent Approach.

Geoff Bullen, Director Emeritus of acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

The Silent Approach works because all of the actors, with and without learning disabilities, have equality – because its our way of working, without words.

Rebekah Hill, actor with Downs Syndrome, Dark Horse

First impressions

A few early feedback quotes from the Separate Doors 3 forum at RADA

Imogen Roberts, Nathan Bessell, Rebekah Hill and me

It was such a fantastic event. I learnt a huge amount and it made me go away and think about my own practise in great detail. 

I feel like the best way in for future progress is to do with writing – new work is always financially risky for theatres, but new work written with this in mind is going to offer the best opportunities for incorporating actors with learning disabilities in “mainstream” work.

As a practitioner I feel that it would be wonderful to have the opportunity to do a practitioner workshop on the Silent Approach with you.

Separate Doors Apprentice Director Bethlehem Wolday-Myers

I reflected that stories shared generation to generation, culture to culture, person to person, have the power to challenge our prejudices – the heroes of those stories challenging our understanding of the individuals telling them.

The platform for integrated theatre needs to find its own voice to connect with the wider public by finding the right projects in which to champion its importance. 

RADA forum

I feel as though the industry is in danger of hamstringing risk and imagination by creating a climate of fear around misappropriation, so to hear the playwrights speak so candidly about it was refreshing and required.

What is the necessary action that follows these conversations? What changes have to be put in place for a genuine shift in our understanding of how true inclusivity can be achieved more broadly? 

Talking about it

Next week the Separate Doors 3 project reaches phase 2, the forum at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

70 people from UK theatre will come together to explore integrated theatre, discussing the will and the way, and most importantly the how of making general audience theatre that includes actors with learning disabilities.

Venues and companies in the room include the Royal Shakespeare Company, The Royal National Theatre, York Theatre Royal, The Young Vic, The Stephen Joseph Theatre and the New Wolsey, Ipswich.

We have Artistic and Associate Directors, established playwrights, theatre makers, actors, movement directors, an agent, a designer, two academics and a film director.

We have our four ally theatre companies which work with actors with learning disabilities, Access All Areas, Dark Horse, Hijinx and Hubbub and we also have Diverse City and Ramps On The Moon.

Its going to be noisy.

And sometimes quiet.

Geoff Bullen, Emeritus Director of Acting at RADA will welcome us all and reflect on the Separate Doors 2 project on which we collaborated.

I’ll talk to the room about my thoughts on identity, writing, integrated theatre and the silent approach and then…

Nathan Bessell, Rebekah Hill, Nicky Priest and Imogen Roberts

A panel of leading actors with learning disabilities will discuss ambition, training and the kind of theatre they want to be part of.

A panel of writers will discuss writing for and with actors with learning disabilities and a panel of Artistic and Executive Directors will discuss including exceptional talent with learning disabilities in general audience work.

We then go into dynamic forum.

Provocations, in between the chatter, will come from three theatre makers who attended Separate Doors 3 silent approach master classes.

Provocateurs Abigail Clay, Alan Mandel and Heather Dutton

We’ll all reflect.

And then everyone in the space will have 60 seconds to feedback.

And if something doesn’t shift as a consequence of that…I’ll eat my hat!