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Lights: 

As previously stated I wanted my performance to be accessible for everyone therefore I decided to light my piece like it was a “relaxed performance” which meant that the house lights (audience lights) remained on throughout the piece. For audience members who have autism, for example, lights going dark can be very distressing and can cause them to become uncomfortable. I don’t believe, however, that lights should stop someone from enjoying theatre which is why I chose to keep the house lights on.

The lights onstage I did not want to be overly complicated. I didn’t want any flashing lights so that people (myself included) who are light sensitive could enjoy the show without any issues. I also made sure that the audio description and the subtitling informed the audience of any light changes in advance as to make sure that that the change in colours did not affect anyone.

For the most part of my show, when I was answering the stupid questions, I decided to go with a warm wash that would light all of the stage. Even though I was performing to the audience, I wanted these sections to have a informal vibe so I could see the audience and they could clearly see me. This also allowed me to interact with audience and talk directly to them. The piece is about dispelling the myths about disabled people and the best way to do this is to have a conversation about it, so I wanted my piece to have an almost conversational feelings even though I was not actually having a conversation with the audience.

^ warm full stage wash for when I was answering questions

There is on section within my piece that deals more with the serious and the nasty side to being disabled and the horrible comments/questions that I get asked. I had an idea of the image I wanted to show in this section and that was to have the wheelchair empty onstage. My wheelchair is the only thing that makes me different from my peers and it’s the thing that labels me as disabled so I wanted the audience to actually have a good look at the chair. I wanted to have a almost clinical spotlight on the wheelchair that lit the chair in a harsh but almost powerful light. The tech team did a brilliant job in bring this idea to life and I’d like to thank them for creating the perfect lighting state for this section.

^ Clinical and slightly creepy but also really highlights the wheelchair.

The final lighting state was for my movement section. With this section I really did not want the lights to seem sad. I wanted the lights to seem powerful. Empowering would perhaps be the best word to describe the movement section and I wanted the lights to reflect this. Purple was the colour that best seemed to suit this word and this was the colour I went for. There are moments in the movement section which are held and are moves that really stand out, me lifting the wheelchair over my head for instance, and I wanted to highlight this moves. To do this the moves were lit with spotlights. These spotlights also created great shadows on the floor which I really liked, especially the shadow of the wheelchair’s wheel spinning.

^ the purple (though it does look slightly blue in the photo) wash for the movement section

^ Spotlight on me spinning around on the wheel of my wheelchair

 

Camera: 

The final part of me making the show fully inclusive was me recording the piece and putting in on my shows Facebook page. Originally when I began this project the idea, that my tutor had given me, had been to live stream the performance however this did not work out as planned so the performance was recorded and then uploaded at a later date. To a lot of disabled people getting out is difficult. Travelling, actually physically moving and access into buildings is not an easy task. When I was first became disabled, I physically could not move. I could not get about and even now I need someone with me to help push my wheelchair around. I also suffered from seizures frequently making it unsafe for me to go to see shows. This, however, should not stop people enjoying theatre. Theatre is supposed to be for everyone however this “everyone” only includes the people who can actually get about, and not people who are physically unable to. I have friends who, like myself, are disabled however their disabilities effect them in different ways to how mine effects me. They are often hospitalized and cannot get about a freely as I can therefore I wanted to upload my performance so that they could also enjoy it. Although this show is just a university assessment, I wanted to make a show that was inclusive to everyone and this, I believe, was the only way to make it truly so.

^ Recorded during tech rehearsal

Action: 

To end my blog I thought I would just reflect on how I felt the performance went. I was really happy with how the performance turned out. The audience laughed and some also cried, and the piece got good feedback from them. If I was to do the piece again I think the only thing I would do differently would be to make the piece longer. There were so many other good (by good I mean hilariously stupid) questions I would have liked to include such as “were you born in a wheelchair” but I could not include them as there simply was not enough time. The Freedom to Move is a piece that I would like to develop further and do more with. I feel like it’s a piece that discussed a topic that should really be discussed more and I feel that theatre is a good way to get the discussion about disabilities out in the open. To end this blog I shall leave you with the quote that features in my performance and it’s a quote that has really help me shape my performance.

 

Disability is not a ‘brave struggle’ or ‘courage in the face of adversity’…Disability is an art. It’s an ingenious way to live. 

-Neil Marcus-

[Disabled actor and activist]

Why did I decide to put sword into my solo performance?

Sword fighting is something that I am trained in and it is also something that most people would assume that someone in a wheelchair would not be able to do. There is this stereotyped idea that disabled people cannot do anything and I felt that putting my swords in the show was a good way to dispel this belief. Most of my audience members will be able-bodied therefore they, possibly, will not know just how much physical stuff I can do even though I am disabled. My swords are a very clear way of showing just what I can do and that is why I really wanted to include them into this performance.

The sword fighting section of my piece was a section that I wanted to put in from the beginning however it took a while to find a way to fit it into the piece. Originally my idea was to do a larger sword section, similar to the movement sequence at the end of the piece, however this did not seem to really fit with the feel of the piece. I also originally was going to include some of the other weapons I am trained in, a fan and a bow staff, however they did not seem to fit the piece so I took them out. Also the time restrictions meant that another big sequence would take the performance over the limit.

^ above is a video of one of my first ideas of a martial arts section. In this video I use a fan as a weapon and was intending to build the sequence up to then include my swords.

So instead of creating a big sword sequence I integrated the swords into a dialogue section. This section comes after a section which the horrible comments and questions that get asked to me because I am disabled. The swords very clearly go against everything these comments claim and also lighten up the show. The horrible comments section was the “darkest” section of the show so it needed something that would pick it back up again. Also I needed a way of discussing the horrible without the show turning into a bit of a rant which the swords did.

 

 

^video of how the sword section turned out

Due to the fact that I am not fluent in British Sign Language and that some deaf people do not use sign language, subtitling became an important factor in my performance. It was something that I had planned to use from the beginning and was perhaps that most complex element within my performance. Creating the subtitling itself was not that hard to due however getting the timing right was not a simply task for the timing not only had to fit with how long it would take me to say the lines but also to how long it takes someone to read the subtitles.

The first thing I did was time how long it would take me to read each of the lines

Once the subtitling was to these times I then retimed and tested how long it’d take someone who was deaf to read the subtitling. Some of the subtitling slides were quite wordy, which means that it takes longer to read the slides then it does for me to speak the words. When testing the slides out on someone who was deaf it was found that they needed longer than I had timed to read some of the slides especially because they also wanted to watch me sign and “act” the lines as well.

This lead to me changing the audio, getting rid of a few questions to fit the time limit, and giving more time on certain slides so that they could be read with ease. This did mean, however, that for hearing audience members there were sometimes moments of pauses as I had finished speaking but deaf audience members had not finished reading. Now I personally don’t feel that this is an issue. I could not really slow my speech down anymore to try and force the timings to match so instead I just let there be moments were it was slightly paused.

I am aware that hearing audience members my not have liked the pauses and may have found them annoying which is why I make it clear why they are needed in the programs that I left on the seats.

 

 

Although I used subtitling I also wanted to still use sign language. Sign language is a beautiful language that goes unnoticed to most non-disabled people so I really wanted to include it. As aforementioned I am not fluent in sign language which is why I could not sign the whole way through the piece so instead I decided to chose certain words that were important to the sentence or to the reply and sign those words to emphasis their importance. Wheelchair, for example, was always signed as was disabled, disability, questions and change. Wheelchair was a sign I wanted to use from the beginning. My wheelchair is very symbolic to my identity and to the identity of the disabled community. A wheelchair is considered the most commonly recognised symbol of disability and tends to be the image most people associate with the word disabled. As I make clear in my show, I believe that my wheelchair is a beautiful thing and the sign I feel emphasises this from the beginning. So the next step was to go through the script and pick out the important words in each of the answers and then sign those words or phrases.

The words underlined in orange were the words I believed were important and therefore chose to sign.

 

 

^ Sign for “Crazy” in British Sign Language.

The first thing I had to do in order to create my script was write down a list of the questions that I could use.

List of questions:

• “Don’t have a fit!”
• Are you possessed?
• Have you had a fit while on toilet or during sex?
• Should I turn the flash off?
• Worst place had a fit?
• When you have a fit, do you get spasms in you v?
• Are your legs better yet?
• Sorry, that must have been tough/ that’s awful, I’m so sorry/ oh poor you
• Do you play wheelchair basketball?
• What’s wrong with you?
• Can I have a go?
• You’re so brave
• It’s good to see people like you out!
• Do you work?
• What benefits do you get?
• Sorry, we don’t do wheelchairs
• We don’t get many of you people here
• Can you have sex?
• Do you only date people in wheelchairs?
• Can you feel down there?
• Is it contagious?
• Do you need help?
• Are you stupid or something
• Is there anything you can do about it
• What’s your special ability?
• You don’t look disabled!
• Does your mum help you get dressed?
• Talking to the person your with?
• Are you alright?
• What’s the best thing about being disabled?
• But your so pretty!
• Have you ever wanted to end it? / if I was disabled I would just kill myself
• Is it fixable
• Don’t you wish you could walk?

 

After that I then picked out a mix of some of the funniest jokes and some of the more serious ones. I wanted my script to have a mix of funny and also some serious stuff so that I can actually discuss some of the more darker side of the way people see disabled people. For the questions that are really stupid, I  just give stupid answers which is what I actually tend to give. I’m not going to try to over do it but just give the answers that I actaully tend to give, if the audience find it funny then they do .  Once I had the questions and the answers written, then I had to create the audio description which runs through the performance. The audio description is really important and I have to make sure that all my movement is described for any blind audience members. To do this I planned out where all my movement would be and where it’d be inbetween the dialogue. I can’t really be talking and moving at the same time as otherwise the audio description would cut over me and you wouldn’t be able to hear what I was saying. For this reason, I decided to block out the sword section so that I speak then move with audio description.

 

The Freedom to Move2

^  Script

 

Creating the audio description then had to recorded and then edited. I recorded and spoke all the audio description and then I changed the pitch so that the audio description doesn’t sound like me.  I realised that if the audio desciption sounded like me then it’d be really confusing for blind audience members as it’d be hard for them to clearly tell whether it was me or the audio speaking. This was the feedback  I received from members of the  deaf community who tested my audio description.

The hardest bit to audio describe was my movement sequence. What made it slightly complicated was trying to word some of the movements. The move where I lift the wheelchair above my head, for instance, was hard to explain in words as it’s such a visual thing that I created so I found that going through the movement bit by bit and breaking it down was the best way to explain the move. For the audio description I looked at the work by Graeae Theatre Company, which is a disabled theatre company that use audio description in pratically all of there performances.

I also looked at audio description in dance so that I could see how it can be done and then use this to help me create my own audio.

Once again Alice Sheppard’s work helped inspire me:

 

As one of my other post shows, I have done movement pieces in my chair before and I’ve never really looked at other (disabled/wheelchair users) work before I began creating movement. So it’s been a while since I last posted on this blog, and now my piece has been completely planned and scripted. With only a few day until the actual performance I thought I’d write a post about how I  create the movement for my piece, given that movement has always been an important element to this performance. Due to every disability being different I see little point in trying copy and base my moves off other performers because my disability is unlikely to match theirs. I tend to look at other people’s work after I’ve created my movement so that I can see how other people explore their disability.

So what I’m trying to say (rather long-windedly) is that whilst most people begin creating work after research, I don’t.

I start creating work…by playing.

Movement, mime and acting instructor Jacques Lecoq stated that ‘play is at the core of our understanding of the world’ (Wright, 2007, 29) and to me play is core to me understanding what my disability will let me do.  Until I test out moves I have no idea whether I can physically do them.

While I was playing I created two different moves:

After creating these moves I then devise and choreograph the movement around these moves. Using moves I’ve done in pervious performances and adding in some more. Compared to when I first did a movement routine back in college my body has gotten much stronger so there is more I am able to do with it and slightly harder/more tiring moves that I can now include.

After creating some moves I then begin to look at music. My movement isn’t like “normal” dance. There’s no point me trying to create a piece by finding music and then counting beats as my wheelchair is unpredictable so can’t keep a set rhythm. The moves work sometimes with the rhythm of the music and at times the music works with the movement.

Finding the right music was a difficult task and I ended up changing the track three times I didn’t want a sad track as this sequence isn’t about being sad. It’s about showing, my mainly able-bodied audience, how beautiful wheelchairs can be and that disabilities are not awful but are something to be proud of.

First music choice: Fermata (Instrumental) – B.A.P

While the music was good and sort of had the right feel to it, only the music was shorter then the moves. Although I could make the moves quicker it didn’t seem right for the piece. The moves need to be taken slowly so that they can be really clear and so that I actually have time to do them as they’re quite tricky moves. I also found that they some were more effect if there was time to actually look at. I decided to try a different track. One that was longer and a little less sad.

Second music change: 연 [Love] (instrumental) – The Lush

Third music (and final) change: 반지의 의미( The meaning of the ring) – BGM

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Now that I found the right music and the sequence is completely choreographed, the next step is to add audio description. I want my performance to be inclusive to everyone and for it to be so it needs to be audio described. Working out how to explain each move was the first step.

To due this I watch back my recordings and then wrote a script to match:

AD: Katie pushes down on the wheelchair breaks, locking the wheels in place. She lifts her body up, suspending her legs above the seat. She turns placing her legs on one of the arm rest and drops. Placing her arms on the other arm rest, she once again lifts her body up and holds. She then brings one of her legs round to the other arm rest, so that she is in a sitting position although still suspended above the chair seat. She flicks up the footpads.  Katie tucks her legs under, placing them on the wheelchair seat in a kneeling position. She leans forward placing her hands on the floor, she walks her hands forward pulling the wheelchair along with her. Katie walks forward then stops and sit back up, kneeling in the wheelchair. Katie’s hands go to the wheels and she rolls the wheelchair to the side of the stage. Katie crawls out of her wheelchair. She then lays down and stretching her arms out so that she can reach the footpads of her wheelchair. She pulls the wheelchair forward and rolls it over her body. The wheelchair rolls freely over Katie’s legs, and continues to roll by itself until Katie sits up, crawls forwards and grabs hold of the chair’s push handles. Katie crawls backwards pulling the wheelchair with her. She tips the wheelchair backward so that the wheelchairs backrest is now on the floor. Katie rolls onto her back tipping the wheelchair over so that it is on top of her. She then spins the wheels so that the turn. Pushing up with her hands on the arm rests and her feet on the seat of the wheelchair, Katie raises the wheelchair above her body. Once in position, Katie removes her hands so the wheelchair is being balanced on top of her feet. Katie’s hands come up to the armrest and her legs move from the wheelchair. Although her legs still remain raised from the floor, the wheelchair is now being lifted up by Katie’s arms. Katie turns slightly and brings the wheelchair to the ground, the wheelchair collapses and folds down as it hits the floor. The only wheel visible spins. Katie watches it spin, then rolls, crawls forward and the locks the unseen wheel. She then watches the visible wheel spin. Katie reaches forward and stops the wheel from spinning. She then pulls her body on top of the wheelchair and sit on the wheel. Katie then spins around on her wheelchair’s wheel. Katie gets off the wheel and sits on the floor. She lifts her wheelchair up and crawls behind it. The wheelchair still remains folded. She runs her hands over the wheelchair, caressing it’s unique shape. After unlocking one of the wheels, Katie pushes the wheelchair round so that she is knelt behind the folded backrest. She tips the wheelchair backwards, unfolding it. Katie then pushes the wheelchair seat into place. Katie tips the wheelchair back up so that it’s wheels are on the ground and pushes it forward. She then pulls it back, embracing it. She places her hands flat cross over on the left side of the backrest…which is the symbol for love in British Sign Language. Katie then folds down the backrest. Katie places her hands across the folded backrest and slowly moves them apart. A move that as well as makes sure the backrest has completely folded down, mean equality in BSL. Katie then pulls her body over the back rest so that her hands are by the wheelchair footpads and her legs raise over the backrest. The wheelchair rolls backward as Katie’s hands walk in that direction. Once the wheelchair rolls to near centre stage, Katie stops. Her hands go up to the breaks, which she pulls down locking the wheels in place. She slides forward. She then places the footpads down.   She pulls herself up into a kneeling position and clicks the backrest back into place. She then brings her legs down so that she is sat in the wheelchair

 

I then voice recorded the audio description, change the pitch tone so that it didn’t sound like my owe voice, and then added it to the music.

Creating the final music for this movement section.

Work Cited:

Wright, J. (2007) On the Gentle Art of Playfulness. UK: Nick Hern Books.