“Elephant…” is a ground breaking show, accessible to deaf and blind audiences, that focus on the story of a mixed race disabled man, using aerial circus and live music to ask questions such as the following: “Is identity defined first by race or by (dis)ability?”.
Mixed race population is the third largest ethnic minority in the UK. Yet, dual-heritage children are still consistently asked whether they see themselves as black, white or Asian, effectively removing from them the possibility that mixed race might be a healthy identity in itself. Despite being (or perhaps because they are) the visible face of the mixing of races, mixed raced people don’t own and don’t tell their own story. And this is a story worthy of telling.
Society wants to be uplifted by disability stories, not confronted or asked to adjust to the disability of ordinary people. In film, theatre and even daily life, disability is preferred as a metaphor rather than an everyday reality. This means that the disabled box is often only ticked in performing arts when there is a particular point to make. Few disabled performers exist, and even fewer are called to show their own point of view, free of expectations.
I am writing a script that shows the world through the point of view of a disabled mixed race performer that ticks so many boxes he ends up ticking none.
There is a vital urgency and necessity in this current climate to create quality work by us ""disabled artists"". This show aims to give a voice to a disenfranchised, and it’s our aim to tour to reach areas of low arts engagement. "