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A showcase of extraordinary talent from some of the country’s leading disabled performers.Summary
Rating
Excellent
Founded by Artistic Director Jamie Hale, CRIPtic Arts is a disabled-led creative hub, which tonight at the Barbican Pit draws together four impactful pieces created and presented by leading disabled performers.
The evening begins with a reminder that impressions of disabled people, and what it is to be disabled, are primarily formed by depictions in the media. It’s hugely important, therefore, that these are authentic, using the voices and actions of those affected.
The showcase features BSL, captions and audio-description throughout, which were at times clumsily matched, making it a little difficult to follow, but this settled in somewhat as the evening progressed.
The Acts begins with Stephen Bailey and ASYLUM Arts’ contribution, Autistic as Fuck, a brilliantly funny yet deeply insightful consideration of autism, examining how society defines people by their disability. The work spells out that the power to do this is literally in the hands of those who ‘write the book’, with inadequate input from those actually being defined. It’s a playful consideration of the absurdity of the labelling process, with fact and fiction juxtaposed and cleverly exemplified by one of the performers being a projected image in a Zoom call.
Over the Moon by Peyvand Sadeghian and Matthew Robinson is more abstract, based on extracts from NASA files and dealing with mental health issues, ideas of isolation and coping with adversity. There’s a lot going on visually and audibly in this work, and at times it’s hard to follow, but a highlight is a poignant video in which astronaut Buzz Aldrin speaks candidly about his struggles with depression. Sadeghian’s rock collection is an excellent example of a solid coping mechanism, with each piece an anchor across time and knowledge.
To Rose On Her 18th Birthday is the most moving piece of the night. A.C. Smith’s letter to their daughter about living with terminal cancer is exquisitely performed. The simple, restful delivery is backed by documentary images of the brutal reality of the surgeries and trauma they’ve undergone. These bear witness to change, guilt, horror and fear: but stronger than all is the purity of love between mother and child. There’s superb work with the BSL interpreter Anna Kitson, as she receives the difficult message, interpreting for us and then portraying the child’s understanding. This is a powerful message about ultimately finding the joy in life, and the personal empowerment in accepting what can’t be changed. (Read more in our interview with A.C. Smith here.)
The final piece, by Rachel Gadsden and Freddie Meyers, is Posthuman – an act of beautiful defiance. Gadsden describes the times she has been told “You will not be resuscitated” in the event of a medical emergency, as if her life were worthless. It’s a magnificent performance, challenging institutional discrimination as she rips apart three huge canvasses, overwriting them with her own story. She ferociously creates a vibrant artwork, applying paint and chalk to embody her own life and death, tracing herself viscerally into it. With her dress made up of medical syringes she literally wears her condition, challenging conventional perceptions. Throughout, Meyers plays hauntingly on a trumpet, giving presence to breathe; to life. The combined beauty of music, art and passion movingly reinforces the value of Gadsen’s existence.
Come the end of the evening I’d laughed, I’d cried and I’d planned a revolution, all in the space of two hours. Being in the room with these pieces discloses our human connectedness. The importance of putting the power to represent disability and to self-define in the hands of those who know cannot be underestimated. This showcase is an excitingly creative, vital means of making that true.
Directed by: Jamie Hale
Produced by: Caitlin Richards
The Acts has completed it’s current run. You can find out more about CRIPtic Arts here.
