DaDaFest International 40 brings you ‘Rage, A Quiet Riot!’.
Rage is something many disabled artists and individuals within our community feel. There is a sense of exhaustion and hopelessness that we often encounter in conversations. There is unspoken rage at the hidden hierarchy in wider disabled communities, often exacerbated by systems that reinforce how valuable or invaluable disabled people are by invoking a scoring scale to decide ‘who needs what, most’.
Our DDFI40 live performances will bring you a quiet riot through theatre, drag disco, cabaret, live art and expressive interactions that you will not want to miss.
7.30pm: Unity Theatre
‘Not all people without dwarfism are under the impression that people with dwarfism are there for entertainment as pets, toys, fetishes, dream sequences, musical numbers…just most.’
Midgitte Bardot, the alias of solo artist Tamm Reynolds, presents a work-in-progress sharing of their new show where they explore ‘who is really dwarfing who’.
‘Performance has been written into dwarf bones against their will. They’re a local celebrity with little power wherever they go, from the mines, courts, cabarets, and big screen to performing arts institutions.’
Join Bardot as she questions: Why is it violence she seeks? What happens when a dwarf has power? Are the non-dwarfs on their knees? What does a land look like when it’s designed and ruled by Midgittes?
Supported by Arts Council England and the Southbank Centre, Marlborough Arts, Battersea Arts Centre, and almost definitely et al.
Access: BSL interpretation and Audio Description will be available for this event.
Age Guidance: 16+ Adult Themes, strong language, some nudity
Cost: Tickets are on a ‘pay what you can’ basis up to £20.
Not F**king Sorry – Cabaret
7.30pm: Unity Theatre
The Not Your Circus Dog collective return after their sold-out runs in 2019 and 2022 for more shameless sexy punk crip cabaret. With luscious lip syncs, sweaty dances and verbatim stories, have your preconceptions rattled as we take you to the edge.
‘Not F**kin’ Sorry’ is punk rock, queer, crip-art, subversive ‘freakshow’ cabaret.
It’s confrontational, loud, sexy and angry, exploring the discrimination experienced by learning-disabled and neurodivergent people.
‘Not F**kin' Sorry’ reframes the representation of learning-disabled people.
The performers reclaim their identities and their agency as sexualised, gendered, deviant, angry and powerful individuals through their onstage ensemble.
Welcome to our space. You are a guest, and we are not f**king sorry.
Access: BSL interpretation and Audio Description will be available for this event.
Age Guidance: 16+ Adult themes, strong language, some nudity
Cost: Tickets are on a ‘pay what you can’ basis, up to £20.
11am – 5pm: Bluecoat Performance Space
Live Activations: 1.30-2.30pm on 22nd; 12-1pm & 3.30-4.30pm on 23rd
‘Rage Reactor’ sees artist Zack Mennell working with their archive of NHS and DWP letters in (para)site, working more with the estranged archive of collective family photos. The performance will entangle poetic explorations of personal childhood trauma with the trauma that the civil nuclear industry enacts on the land - considering lineage and generational cycles of trauma. Asking broad questions such as: What does this leave us with? Where does this leave us? Where can we go from here? The installation will be altered after each activation. Audiences are invited to move around the installation, stay a while, leave and return freely during the installation and activations.
Access: BSL interpretation and Audio Description will be provided at this event.
Age Guidance: 16+ Contains nudity and adult themes
Booking info: there will be 3 performative activations during this commissioned piece installation. Check back here for booking link, which will shortly go live.
11am – 4pm: Bluecoat Garden
Join this interactive performance with artist Dora Colquhoun in the Garden at the Bluecoat. The fictional NBFS (The National Bureau For Sitting) will assess members of the public to see whether they can take a seat in a very comfortable Chesterfield chair.‘Would you Like a Seat?’ looks at archaic systems that enables some to thrive and some to survive andasks the question ‘Why do we allow some people access and not others?
Access: BSL interpretation will be provided, and performances will include some Audio Description.
Booking info: No booking required, just pop in during performance times. Please note, queuing for this interactive piece may be required at busy periods.
Pop-Up Poetry with Amina Atiq
12 – 3pm: Bluecoat Garden / Courtyard
Join local poet Amina Atiq for performances of her work, developed especially for DaDaFest International 40 reflecting on the theme of ‘Rage’, along with some of her existing poems.
Access: This performance will be BSL interpreted.
Booking info: No booking required, just pop in during performance times.
7.30pm (doors): District, Baltic
Show starts 8pm sharp. Ends 1am (or whenever you stop dancing)
DaDa is excited to collaborate with Liverpool's original Drag Dinner Cabaret and Club Night Collective ‘Eat Me and Preach’, who will be inviting disabled, Deaf and Neurodivergent artists to be part of a raucous evening of ‘Not Safe For Work’ performance and protest that gives ‘more than a nod’ to the long-standing intersections of queer and crip identities, offers a safe space for shared grief, rage and healing and offers joy and community in dark times.
Access: there will be BSL interpretation and Audio Description.
Age Guidance: 18+ Adult themes, strong language throughout and nudity highly likely
Cost: £15. Concessions and unwaged / companion tickets available.
Booking Info: Skiddle link coming soon available here and @eatmeclub
Please send any low income ticket requests, cater tickets and access requests to eatmelpool@gmail.com
10am – 6pm: Open Eye Gallery
(Workshop 2.00-3.30pm with live performance following at 4pm)
RAWD presents ‘Movement Megaphone’, an original dance film that explores ‘turning up our voice’ through dance. Where are we supposed to be quiet? Where are we allowed to shout? 'Movement Megaphone' explores Patrick Bannon’s physical language and the environments and communities that give him a voice. Patrick Bannon is an associate artist at RAWD, a company that produce inclusive arts experiences and performances, which all champion and amplify the disabled perspective.
The film, co-commissioned by Culture Liverpool and DaDa, will be played on a loop throughout the day 10am-6pm.
In the afternoon from 2.00-3.30pm, join Artist and Performer Patrick Bannon and Choreographer Alice Lapworth for a FREE open dance workshop for anyone to learn Patrick's movements from ‘Movement Megaphone’. At 4pm a live performance will follow to either experience a one-time only Live version of ‘Movement Megaphone’ or perform everything you've learnt from the workshop.
Access: BSL and Audio Description available
Age Guidance: Family Friendly
Booking info: No need to book to see the film or performance, but a booking link for the workshop will be added soon. Come along to see the film or enjoy the live performance at the times stated above.
