Last month we hosted an event featuring brand new work from disabled women across a range of art-forms at Unity Theatre. With disabled voices being important both onstage and as critics, we asked the DaDaFest advisors who attended as audience members to give us their thoughts on the performances.
I Can - Helen Cherry
“Funny and emotional” was the verdict on Cherry’s dance piece, which brought together disco and contemporary dance to address feeling isolated as a disabled person. Describing it as "a good way to start the show" it put our advisors in the mood to get up and dance to a soundtrack which included ‘I Will Survive’ and ‘Girls Just Want To Have Fun’. It also featured original sound design and advisor, Jordan, again felt like joining in with the voiceover that repeated ‘I stand’ as the piece came to its defiant, empowering conclusion.
Broken Biscuits - Amina Atiq
“Moving and cultural,” Amina Atiq’s piece involved some actual audience participation – everyone joining in on ‘you’ll never walk alone’ produced chills all round when Liverpool was depicted as calling this to her Yemeni grandparents from over the sea. Advisor and visual artist, Leona, was particularly impressed by how the piece was funny even while it dealt with serious topics of prejudice and discrimination. Experiences of stigma as ‘scousers’ meant that references to being shamed for where you’re from felt relatable, but the main takeaway was “be who you are”… or as Atiq beautifully put it:
She might not be the prettiest of them all
but she is the most down-to- earth bird you’ll ever find,
enough to make your heart go by.
Her stubbornness is her resilience, reds or blues-
she never gives up, she never walks alone– wounded
or scarred, she picks you up too-
She is Hope Street, hoping for a better tomorrow
and when the broken-hearted people living in the world agree
There will be an answer, let it be, let it be…
American Girl - Bethany Murray
Murray’s piece marked a surprising shift to a more sinister atmosphere. An excerpt from her play about human trafficking, the tone felt very different from the previous performances. Playing all of the characters, including a deep-voiced Texan man, Murray’s versatility and voice acting received plenty of praise from the other advisors. Jordan pointed out how, despite being a highly dramatic work of fiction, it transmitted relatable, universal feelings such as uncertainty around who to trust. A suggestion for the piece going forward was to introduce more characters, both for Murray to show off her acting, as well as to amplify this uncertainty.
Yours, Sincerely and Dear Mr. Davis - Tammy Reynolds
Amazing, funny, engaging, fabulous, fantastic, interesting
– these were the adjectives that came to mind when the advisors were asked to describe Tammy Reynolds’ pieces. As with Atiq’s piece beforehand, injecting humour into otherwise dark topics, in this case ableism, was effective and surprising. "Deep and personal" material, such as a verbatim reading of Reynolds' DWP assessment, prompted an interesting discussion among the advisors about whether this would or should be classed as ‘entertainment’ – whether the point of art is primarily to entertain or not. 'Dear Mr. Davies' definitely highlighted the dangers of prioritising entertainment over the rights of disabled people, in her words;
"You do panto... The first time I saw another dwarf was in Snow White and that made me think that's the only place I'm good for"
Another standout element was the aesthetics and the fab costume choices from Reynolds' set.
Thanks to our advisory group for reviewing the acts. Were you at the event and have your own feedback to add? Download our feedback form here and return it to info@dadafest.co.uk – we can then pass it onto the artists to help them further develop their pieces>> DaDaFest Scratch Feedback.pdf