Summer School at Stephen Joseph Theatre
I did two poem films for The Stephen Joseph Theatre’s summer school. one poem is called Ghostlight the other called A Dirty Word.
Fix Us
Fix Us is an autobiographical show where three people with different disabilities use their alter-egos to find their confidence. With their own humor they deliver thought provoking stories, and take you on their journey of mischief and mayhem.
https://edinburghfestival.list.co.uk/article/111164-fix-us/
A Blind Bit of Difference
A Blind Bit Of Difference, working with synistisia (crossing of the senses), creating an anthology with blind/visually impaired student-poets by using taste and colour. A year of workshops in schools to create the piece.
https://extant.org.uk/a_blind_bit_of_differencelive_tonight/
Martha Josie and the Chinese Elvis
Martha Josie and the Chinese Elvis writing by Charlotte Jones was put on at The Stephen Joseph Theatre and New Vic Theatre. A play with lots of singing, swinging and dancing wrapped up in a metaphor. Each of the characters traveled through their own journey through the play.
In Touch
In Touch Performance
Graeae theatre are collaborating with Inclusion Russian deafblind theatre to do In Touch a show about how deafblind people go through life, the barriers they have faced as well as learning how to live with their disability.
The first few days of rehearsals in Moscow we were in a studio room in an art museum. Here we got to know each other and bond exploring different drama games. We watched the 2015 version of play to get an idea of the shape of it. Then we worked on a few scenes to start including me and Raji as the UK actors in what would become a new version of the play. We worked on words or phrases on how we feel about being deafblind, or how the hearing actors felt when meeting someone who is deafblind. We also did ensemble work as at times during the play we are together to show the idea of loneliness and togetherness. We also had an open rehearsal so visitors from the museum could watch.
On one of the days we rehearsed on a stage connected to a university. The small theatre space could have held up to 200 audience members. We rehearsed and worked out how to tell people’s individual stories in different ways, and how to use certain objects as metaphors.
With this project we had several languages in one room. In fact we had six languages in the room, which includes Russian to English, English to Russian, British Sign Language, English to Hands On, Russian to Russian Sign Language, Russian Hands On and Russian Deafblind Manual.
After a week of rehearsing at Graeae in London the big day came when this performance of In Touch was put on at The National Theatre, London on the 14th October at 5 pm and 8pm. Tension was high as we did the tech as we had so little time, but the National Theatre crew were brilliant and made sure it all fell in to place on time. Both performances went really well and the audience really enjoyed it.
DIALOGUE BEYOND SIGHT 2016Art | Performance | WorkshopsGallery@OXO, London12 – 17 July 2016
Dialogue Beyond Sight ® is a cross-disciplinary collaboration featuring the works of visually impaired and blind creative practitioners.
DIALOGUE
The 2016 exhibition was created in response to the theme Dialogue, with a total of 16 visually impaired and blind visual artists and performers presenting a plethora of artworks which included paintings, illustrations, sculptures, decor and installations, while the performances included recitals, storytelling and classical songs.
Part of the programme of events included 10 scheduled workshops, covering various topics and interests, including the Talking Untouchables, a workshop that explored the approach to creating accessibility tools for museums and art galleries for their visually impaired audiences, and Drawing Beyond Sight, a workshop that revealed ways of creating artworks that draw upon our imagination to create dynamic narratives.
Artists and Performers at the Dialogue Beyond Sight 2016 exhibition
Below is a list of artists and performers that collaborated for the Dialogue Beyond Sight exhibition.
Sally Booth. John Bramblitt. Kimberley Burrows. Lynn Cox. Fiona Dunn. Rachel Gadsden. Julie Imus. Zara Jayne. Lloyd McCullough. Ian McNamara. Victoria Oruwari. Kate Portal. Magdalena Rutkowska. Michael Williams.
This exhibition was curated by Andrew Mashigo and Rachel Gadsden.
ZARA JAYNE Zara was invited to present a 5-minute recital in response to the theme Dialogue. Her performance was a compelling recital, with innovative use of props that created a further engaging presentation.
Website: https://mamomiinitiative.com/dialogue-beyond-sight/
Image credits: Paul Lewis, Hamish Roberts Photography
Zara Jayne 