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What is Disability Theatre?

Ruth Bailey give an overview of the development of some of the main contenders.

Disability Theatre happens because of disability, not in spite of it. To get a feel of what this means, consider The Beautiful Octopus Club. This is one of the latest ventures of Heart 'n' Soul, a musical theatre company of people with learning difficulties, which fuses club culture with performance and installation art. This mix makes for a whole new theatrical experience, introducing theatre-goers to contemporary club music and club goers to the world of performance.

This new experience hasn't just been developed by chance or just for the sake of being innovative, although it certainly is that. It has evolved because Heart 'n' Soul is one of those all too rare places where people with learning difficulties are in control. This means that every stage the artistic process is shaped and informed by the culture and experiences of people with learning difficulties.

The performers at the front of the stage all have learning difficulties, as do those taking the money at the door, dj-ing etc. So too do many of those moving around the dance floor, doing whatever is their own thing. There's no pressure to conform here. The ambience, access and performances somehow manage to put everyone at their ease. Everyone here doesn't just mean people with learning difficulties. The Beautiful Octopus clubbers include people with a broad range of impairments - and none. Indeed, The Beautiful Octopus Club took the number one slot in The Guardian Guide's club listing. The reviewer raved:

For once something that isn't tokenistic but beats everything else hands down in it's own right.

So Disability Theatre is all about ensuring disabled people are at the centre of the creative process, and allowing disability to influence that process. More precisely, it can be defined as theatre

which involves a majority of disabled people, explores a disability aesthetic and mirrors in some way the lives of disabled people.

- Theatre & Disability Conference Report, Elspeth Morrison. Arts Council 1992.

clubbers in front of a brightly-coloured octupus sign

A Beautiful Octopus club night, in full swing at the Ocean Rooms in Hackney, London 2003.
Photographer: Michael Gaunt.

Related information

Heart 'n Soul
www.heartnsoul.co.uk