Review: Brighton Festival presents Art Of Disappearing’s The Last Resort
The Last Resort commissioned by Brighton Festival is a site-specific sound journey in which artists Rachel Champion and Tristan Shorr welcome an audience, in pairs, on a journey through a barren, industrial area of Portslade beach, reimagining the location in a science fiction context. Review by Liz Porter.
Review: iF Platform bursary winners Silent Faces come out of the filing cabinet with Follow Suit
Review: Brighton Festival presents The Ricochet Project's 'Smoke and Mirrors'
Review: National Theatre presents The Suicide
Review: Thompson Hall: 'Home Away from Home'
Review: Birds of Paradise: Wendy Hoose
Review: In Conversation: Discussion event on Arts, Disability and Collaborative Practice at FACT Liverpool
Building on a fifteen-year history in creative collaborations, In Conversation: Discussion event on Arts, Disability and Collaborative Practice on 1 April 2016, kick-started FACT Liverpool’s new spring programme which aims to explore disability, art and communities through a series of pop-up exhibitions. Review by Jade French.
Review: Ramps on the Moon and Birmingham Rep present The Government Inspector
Ramps on the Moon is a project run by a consortium of seven theatres aimed at addressing the under-representation of disabled people in the sector over the next six years. The latest production in association with Birmingham Rep is Nikolai Gogol’s The Government Inspector which is touring 19 March – 25 June 2016. Liz Porter caught a performance in Birmingham.
Review: Extant Theatre present The Chairs
Review: DaDaFest and Turf Love present Unsung
Unsung, the DaDaFest and Turf Love production, had its first run at Liverpool’s Everyman Theatre 9-12 March 2016. The play, written by John Graham Davies and James Quinn, features the life story of Edward Rushton, an important but largely forgotten figure in Liverpool’s history, who campaigned for the abolition of slavery and established the Royal School for the Blind. Review by Trish Wheatley.
Review: Myrtle Theatre Company and Salisbury Playhouse 'Up Down Man'
Review: ‘Growing Audiences’ – Audio Description Association’s National Conference
Review: Unlimited: Kaite O'Reilly: Cosy
Review: Mind the Gap: 'Contained'
Combining live performance, film, photography, music and dance, Contained explores those small moments in life that suddenly become charged and life changing. As the cast from 'Mind the Gap' present themselves to their audience the show displays clear political intent, says Colin Hambrook
Review: Hijinx presents Meet Fred
Review: SICK! Lab: Bryony Kimmings: Fake It ’Til You Make It
Review: DaDaFest Art D’Visions
Review: Open Theatre Company's 'Is That All There Is?' conference highlights work by young people with learning disabilities
Where are the artists with learning disabilities in the debate about diversity? What does work by young people with learning disabilities have to teach the artistic mainstream? With a showcase of solo work including Vault Festival award-winner The Misfit Analysis, the Is That All There Is? conference was all about inspiring new practice right across the arts sector: from the boardroom and rehearsal space right to the centre of the stage. Review by Bella Todd
Review: Birds of Paradise Theatre present Purposeless Movements
Written and Directed by Robert Softley Gale with performers Laurence Clark, Jim Fish, Pete Edwards and Colin Young and with musicians Scott Twynholm and Kim Moore, this movement-based piece that tells the stories of five guys with cerebral palsy. Sophie Partridge saw the show at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh
Review: Kris Halpin The Gloves Are On
To celebrate Independent Venues Week in January, Attitude is Everything hosted The Gloves Are On, headlined by musician and technologist Kris Halpin aka Winter of '82. The show hit four venues across Guildford, Coventry, Bristol and London. Rowan James caught the performance at the Half Moon in Putney.
Review: HOAX & Luminary Theatre present Hysterical
Review: Daily Life Ltd and Bobby Baker 'Letting in the Light'
Review: Graeae's The Solid Life of Sugar Water at the National Theatre
Review: Curing Perfect Lab at Brighton Science Festival
Learning disability-led organisation Carousel is currently developing Curing Perfect, an online graphic novel which challenges users to think about the nature of perfection in the context of genetic screening. They hosted a drop-in event at Brighton Science Festival on 19 February. Review by Sarah Pickthall.
Review: Shape Open 2016
Review: Reframing the Myth: Graeae and Central Illustration Agency
Celebrating 35 years of Graeae Theatre, prominent figures from its history were paired with artists and illustrators from the Central Illustration Agency to create 40 new artworks. Kate Lovell visited the exhibition at the Guardian’s offices in London, wishing that it had shouted louder and been bolder.
Review: Attenborough Arts Centre official launch: Lucy + Jorge Orta
Review: Mental Spaghetti: The Mind Machine
Review: Ridiculusmus: Give Me Your Love
Ridiculusmus take the ridiculous to extremes in their latest piece Give Me Your Love. Following the story of a soldier with post-traumatic stress disorder back from the Iraq War, the play asks how does society support those who’ve been pushed to the darkest corners of existence. Review by Colin Hambrook.
Review: #SummitPortrayed: Tanya Raabe-Webber
Reviews: Dao Writers on Literature
Dao is building a collection of essays about representation of disability within literature. To date Dr Emmeline Burdett has reviewed Courting Greta by Ramsey Hootman, The Mysterious Death of Miss Austen by Lindsay Ashford, The Norwich Wheelchair Murders by Bill Albert and You Have Not A leg To Stand On by DD Mayers.
Review: The Art of Bedlam: Richard Dadd
Between 7 November and 6 February, Bethlem Museum of the Mind – the ‘original Bedlam’ – plays host to an exhibition of the Victorian artist, Richard Dadd, who produced a number of works whilst detained at the hospital. Deborah Caulfield surveys the scene, finding a few gaping holes in this retrospective.
Review: Amandla! by Freewheelers Theatre Company
Review: Signdance Collective International present Carthage
Review: Cabinet of Cynics and Stepping Out Theatre present The Divided Laing, or The Two Ronnies
Review: Lizzie Emeh See Me Part 1 - The Clan
Review: UK Disability History Month 2015 Conference at the BFI
UK Disability History Month takes place between 22 November – 22 December every year. With this year’s theme being Portrayal of Disability in Moving Image Media, what better place could there be than the BFI to host an opening conference addressing the subject. Joe Turnbull was in attendance.
Review: Heart N Soul - Soundlab - Play Space
Soundlab - Play Space is an innovative digital technology project created and delivered by creative arts charity Heart N Soul in conjunction with Goldsmiths University of London and the Public Domain Corporation. It took place in London on 25 November and Robin Surgeoner aka Angryfish, was amongst the crowd.
Review: Spill Festival 2015 - the fiery spirit of marginalisation
SPILL Festival is an experimental artist-led festival produced by UK-based arts organisation Pacitti Company. This year's festival took place across multiple venues in London between 28 October and 8 November. Artist, and former SPILL performer Dr Martin O'Brien gives his personal response to the festival as a whole.
Review: Attenborough Arts Centre Launch – Art, Life, Activism
University of Leicester’s Attenborough Arts Centre first opened 18 years ago, conceived by acclaimed actor Richard Attenborough as a space explicitly for disabled artists and audience members. 17 November saw the soft launch of its new £1.5 million three-gallery space. To celebrate, the space is hosting a major multi-artist exhibition Art, Life, Activism as its inaugural show. Joe Turnbull was in attendance for the launch event.
Review: Goldsmiths Disability Research Centre Launch Event
The Disability Research Centre at Goldsmiths is a new interdisciplinary research grouping which will both conduct and promote research relating to disability and highlight the endemic nature of disablism. 12 November 2015 saw its launch with a series of talks delivered around the pertinent topic of disability and austerity. Joe Turnbull reports.
Review: Shape Gallery: Ilham Exhibition
Ilham (inspiration) was originally exhibited at the Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, Qatar, as part of the Definitely Able conference that explored issues of disability and equal access to arts and culture in the Middle East. A sample of work by the four UK based artists from that show is on exhibition at Shape Gallery in Stratford until 30th November. Review by Colin Hambrook
Review: Aaron Williamson's Demonstrating the World - oddly familiar and brilliantly odd
Review: Oska Bright Film Festival 2015
Review: Assessing access at the Royal Academy of Arts: InPractice
Several times a year the Royal Academy of Arts (RA) hosts InPractice, as part of its wider access programme. The sessions aim to provide a platform for disabled artists, and others whose work faces barriers, to share best practice through talks and debates. Artist and regular DAO contributor Deborah Caulfield went to the latest event to see if it delivers on its promises.
Review: Karen Finley relives the AIDS crisis in ‘Written in Sand’
Acclaimed American performance artist Karen Finley weaves together a collection of texts, letters and poetry from 1983-1994 which reflect her deeply personal testimony of the AIDS crisis. Written in Sand combines poetry, spoken word and music, with the help of talented multi-instrumentalist Paul Nebenzahl. Joe Turnbull was transported back in time.
Review: Picture Taking: Exploring Myself Through Photography
Review: Deafinitely Theatre's Grounded at Park Theatre
Review: Creative Minds one day conference 2015
Why is the work of learning disabled artists under-represented in the wider arts world – and why does this matter? This was the question driving the Creative Minds conference on October 28th 2015, a gathering of artists, programmers, funders, academics, participatory organisations and professional companies organised and presented by people with learning disabilities. Bella Todd reports.
Review: Together! Not So Private View: Colin Hambrook and Bruchinaarts
Review: Shadows Waltz Haltingly by Alan Morrison
Alan Morrison's collection of poems Shadows Waltz Haltingly charts the struggles of his late mother with Huntington’s Chorea, depicting in 'meticulous detail' the full effects of the illness. The title alludes to the original name for the illness, 'St Vitus's Dance'. Review by Dave Russell.
Review: Unlimited: Jack Dean's Grandad and the Machine
Review: Signdance Collective International, Bad Elvis with Iris Theatre
Bad Elvis, written by Katie Hims was originally conceived as a drama for BBC Radio 4. The rambunctious Signdance Collective International have since adapted it for stage with their own unique style. They recently performed it for Iris Theatre in London, Sophie Partridge was in attendance.
Review: London Film Festival Diversity Town Hall Discussion
A year ago the BFI announced its ‘Three Ticks’ scheme, making all its Lottery-based funding conditional on meeting set diversity criteria. Joe Turnbull was in attendance for a special event which discussed the progress of the scheme, the state of diversity in the film industry and how the industry can make steps going forward.
Review: World Mental Health Poetry: Outside-In/ Dao at Pallant House Gallery
Review: Vital Xposure: The Disappearance of Dorothy Lawrence
Vital Xposure sets out to produce cutting edge theatre that celebrates hidden voices with extraordinary stories to tell. In doing so ‘The Disappearance of Dorothy Lawrence’ follows on from the companies’ 2011-2013 production ‘The Knitting Circle’, which evolved out of research into the testimonies of women locked away in long-stay institutions. Review by Sophie Partridge
Review: Theatres of Learning Disability: Good, bad or plain ugly
Published by Palgrave Macmillan, Matt Hargrave’s is the first book to focus exclusively on theatre and learning disability from an artistic perspective. Over five years Hargraves researched the work of several companies and artists giving detailed analysis of work by Back To Back, Mind the Gap, Dark Horse, the Shysters and Full Body and the Voice. Review by Gus Garside
Review: Vital Xposure: The Disappearance of Dorothy Lawrence
Vital Xposure sets out to produce cutting edge theatre that celebrates hidden voices with extraordinary stories to tell. In doing so ‘The Disappearance of Dorothy Lawrence’ follows on from the companies’ 2011-2013 production ‘The Knitting Circle’, which evolved out of research into the testimonies of women locked away in long-stay institutions. Review by Colin Hambrook
Review: Unlimited: Liz Carr: Assisted Suicide The Musical
Review: FACT, Liverpool: Lesions in the Landscape
'Lesions in the Landscape' asks ‘How does our individual and collective memories influence our understanding of society?’ Susan Bennett reports on an exciting art/ science collaboration on show at FACT, Liverpool, which parallels the effects of amnesia on one woman and the evacuation of the inhabitants of St Kilda in the North Atlantic in 1930.
Review: Bounce Festival 2015: ‘Reassembled… Slightly Askew’ by Shannon Yee
Samantha Blackburn's highlight of the Bounce Festival produced by Arts & Disability Forum in Belfast was the sonic arts piece ‘Reassembled… Slightly Askew’ by Shannon Yee. Designed for a limited audience of four people per show and described by The Stage as ‘a daring, disorientating artistic collaboration’ the piece was shown at the Lyric Theatre from 3-6 September.
Review: Short Circuit: Digital Arts Project at the Lighthouse
Review: Edinburgh Festival: Audio-description at the Unlimited Exhibition... Summerhall
Review: Edinburgh Festival: Stopgap Dance Company's 'Artificial Things'
Review: CripFest 2015
26th July 2015 marked the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, a key point in history for disability legislation in the USA. To mark this occasion OneOfUs, co-directed by Julie Atlas Muz and Mat Fraser, produced CripFest, their first one-day disability arts festival with support from the British Council. Trish Wheatley was at the Bam Fisher, Brooklyn, soaking up a performance, visual arts and discussion programme sure to excite any diehard disability arts fan.
Review: Edinburgh Festival: Marc Brew, 'For Now, I am..'
Review: Edinburgh Festival: Ramesh Meyyappan’s 'Butterfly'
Review: Edinburgh Festival: Unlimited Exhibition... Summerhall
Review: Edinburgh Festival: Jo Bannon presents Alba
Supported as part of the iF (Integrated Fringe) Platform at the Edinburgh Festival, Jo Bannon’s Alba is showing from 24-28 August at the Drill Hall, home of the Forest Fringe. Described as being influenced by the artists' albinism the performance tells a story about paleness, blending in and standing out. Review by Colin Hambrook
Review: DoesLiverpool: DesktopProsthetics workshop and exhibition at FACT
DoESLiverpool are developing an iteration of the Enabling the Future project within the 'Build Your Own: Tools For Sharing' Exhibition at FACT in Liverpool until 31 August 2015 with the Crafts Council and in association with Norfolk Museums Service and Norwich Hackspace. Review by Susan Bennett
Review: Edinburgh Festival: Graeae: The Solid Life of Sugar Water
Review: Extant:ComBUStion at Liberty 2015
Review: SprungDigi Festival
SprungDigi - an interactive digital arts festival in Horsham, West Sussex from 10-12 July featured giant portraits of learning disabled people projected onto buildings, a game played with an accessible mapping app and an inclusive, high-tech design workshop to re-imagine a town centre. Gary Thomas was there soaking up the digital vibes.
Review: All is calm, all is chaos, in Mark Wood's world
Review: Vici Wreford-Sinnott: The Art Of Not Getting Lost
Vici Wreford-Sinnott’s production The Art Of Not Getting Lost explores our attitude to mental health issues through two main protagonists: Everyone and No-one who have made their home in the hidden tunnels of London’s Bakerloo Station. Aidan Moesby saw a performance at the Northern Stage in Newcastle
Review: Beneath the Streets: Lost & Found, Punchdrunk Enrichment and Hijinx Theatre
With companies like Shunt, Carnesky's Ghost Train, You Me Bum Bum Train and Punchdrunk leading the scene there have been some pretty awesome feats of immersive/ interactive theatre pulled off over the last 15 years, but it’s a tricky thing to get right, and often it fails to engage, let alone transport. Alice Holland reviews the collaboration between Punchdrunk and Hijinx shown as part of the Unity Festival in Cardiff
Review: Birds of Paradise Theatre Company present Crazy Jane
Birds of Paradise Theatre's latest production 'Crazy Jane' tells the story of Jane Avril, star of the Moulin Rouge who was immortalised in the iconic posters of Toulouse-Lautrec. Directed by Written by Nicola McCartney and directed by Garry Robson the show has recently toured Scotland. Review by Paul F. Cockburn
Review: Pulse Festival: Ramps on the Moon
On 5 June New Wolsey Theatre’s Pulse Festival brought together 60 representatives from the world of theatre for 'Ramps on the Moon': a day of reflection and performance centred around the involvement of Deaf and disabled people in the sector. Liz Porter gives an overview of a day of provocation and discussion.
Review: Pulse Festival: Laura Dannequin: Hardy Animal
An important aspect of ‘Ramp’s on the Moon’ day hosted by New Wolsey Theatre at Pulse Festival, as part of the theatre's Agent for Change programme, was showcasing high quality work that offered an opportunity for the audience to consider impairment-related theatre, language and communication and aesthetic access. Review by Liz Porter.
Review: The Deaf & Hearing Ensemble present People of the Eye
The Deaf & Hearing Ensemble formed in 2013 as a group of D/deaf and hearing theatre makers who come together to tell each other stories, to explore the performative nature and beauty of sign language and to pull together D/deaf and hearing audiences in a shared experience – breaking down barriers on stage and off. Review by Colin Hambrook
Review: Zendeh presents Cinema
Produced by Zendeh and written by Steven Gaythorpe, Cinema recalls the story of an act of terror that sparked a revolution in Iran on 19th August 1978 from the point of view of Shahrzad, feral cat and teller of tales. Sophie Partridge reviews a performance at the Arcola, London on 30 May.
Review: Touretteshero goes Backstage to Biscuitland
On election night in the Brighton Dome Studio Theatre we learn that “Nigel Farage is at home washing his tortoise.” And Jess Thom aka Touretteshero is on fire, an irrepressible force of nature, welcoming her audience to Biscuitland with a charm and an affectionate grin that cannot fail to woo. Review by Colin Hambrook
Review: Daily Life Ltd: Expert View Symposium... let them eat cake
Led by Dr. Bobby Baker and the team at Daily Life Ltd, The Expert View Symposium promised to be an entertaining, inspiring and fun day of discussion, debate and performance, relevant to anyone with an interest in understanding the relationship between the Arts and Mental Health. Colin Hambrook was there, amongst other things, for the butterscotch cake.
Review: Claire Cunningham: Give Me A Reason To Live
Review: Tanvi Bush ‘Witch Girl’
Review: Q S Lam: Schizophrenics Can Be Good Mothers Too
Published by Muswell Hill Press, 'Schizophrenics Can Be Good Mothers Too' takes the reader on the artist Q S Lam's journey through the labyrinthine passages of psychosis describing her strategies and struggles to recover from the impact of the illness on everyday life, drawing on her personal experience, using art, not medication, to keep well. Review by Colin Hambrook
Review: Shape: Shortlist 7 Exhibition
Review: SICK! Festival: Sue MacLaine: Can I Start Again Please?
Review: Group Therapy: Mental Distress in a Digital Age at FACT, Liverpool
Originating from FACT’s extensive work within mental health and wellbeing, Group Therapy explores the complex relationship between technology, society, and mental health. Jade French responds to the brilliant lens the exhibition holds up to some of the darker aspects of living with mental health issues.
Review: SICK! Festival: Brian Lobel: Sex, Cancer & Cocktails
SICK! Festival is currently revealing and debating some of our most urgent physical, mental and social challenges in venues across Brighton and Manchester. Launched in 2013, the festival’s third outing explores some key aspects of life and death and how we survive them (or don’t). Colin Hambrook went to a show about sex and cancer with Brian Lobel
Review: SICK! Festival: Eric Steel: The Bridge
This year SICK! Festival has pushed boundaries by opening up debates and airing work on the theme of suicide. One of pieces shown was a documentary film by Eric Steel, which enters dark spiritual territory focusing on the iconic Golden Gate Bridge, symbol of the West and of freedom and site for the highest number of suicides of any single place in the world. Review by Colin Hambrook
Review: Extant Theatre: Flatland
Flatland takes place in an immersive, pitch-black world of sensation and sound built within a disused church in Southwark Park. Collaborators from the fields of robotics, sound design and the arts have worked with Extant’s visually impaired team and researchers from Open University’s Pervasive Media Lab to create a unique audience experience. Review by Stephen Portlock
Review: Bush Theatre: 'Islands' by Caroline Horton
Review: Lea Cummings: Infinite Psychic Love Explosion
Review: Tate Britain Audio-Described Tour: Femme Fatale
The Tate Britain run an ongoing series of free BSL-interpreted and Audio-described tours of work in their collections. Dao sent Stephen Portlock to review an audio-described talk on Monday 19th January by Auntie Maureen, exploring artworks in the collection in terms of the archetype of the 'Femme Fatale'.
Review: Theatre Re: 'Blind Man’s Song' recalls a lost magic
Using theatre, mime, sound and original live music in exploring the power of imagination to seek wisdom beyond our senses, Theatre Re’s 'Blind Man’s Song' opened the London International Mime Festival at Jacksons Lane. Colin Hambrook reviews a VocalEyes audio-described performance on 22nd January.
Review: James Leadbitter: 'Madlove'
Review: Ivan Riches and Simon Puriņš: 'Children of the Great War'
Originally shown at the APT Gallery, London between 8-11 January 2015, Ivan Riches and Simon Puriņš: 'Children of the Great War' is due to go to Alexandra Palace on Saturday 7th February and every first Saturday of the month. Produced as part of a London-wide Age Exchange project the dual-screen film and digital media installation records memories and experiences of the First World War passed down through families and across communities. Review by Emmeline Burdett
Review: The Ugly Girl: A Musical Tragedy in Burlesque by Terry Galloway
Review: DaDaFest International 2014: Rachel Gadsden Al Noor: Fragile Vision
Review: Disability Arts Touring Network: The Why? Festival
Review: InTouch at the RA: an audio described tour of the 'Giovanni Battista Moroni' exhibition
Review: DaDaFest International Congress: Disability Culture and Human Rights
Review: DaDaFest International 2014: Sheila Hill's 'Him'
Writer/theatre-maker and installation-artist Sheila Hill received an Unlimited research and development award to work with actor Tim Barlow to create ‘Him’. The resulting film was shown at DaDaFest 2014 as part of a session titled 'Unlimited: the Artists Voice'. Review by Liz Porter
Review: DaDaFest International 2014: Kazzum Theatre: Where’s My Nana?
Combining Kazzum’s ability to create high quality inclusive playful theatre and Slung Low’s technological ‘know-how’ to make adventures for audiences outside of conventional theatre spaces, the Unlimited research and development commission Where’s My Nana? showcased at DaDaFest. Review by Liz Porter.
Review: DaDaFest International 2014: Art of Living the Experiment
Review: DaDaFest International 2014: Owen Lowery: Otherwise Unchanged plus support from Liverpool Poets
Introduced by DaDaFest’s resident poet Roger Cliffe-Thompson, the poetry of Young DaDaFest poets rang out alongside Allan Sutherland reading a selection from ‘Proud’ and the award-winning Owen Lowery with his multi-media presentation of ‘Otherwise Unchanged’. Review by Deborah Caulfield
Review: DaDaFest International 2014: Staff Benda Bilili
Congolese band Staff Benda Bilili’s exuberant live shows and extraordinary story have caused a stir across the globe. To round off DaDaFest 2014, the band set the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall alight with their powerful rumba-rooted beats, overlaid with elements of old-school rhythm 'n' blues and reggae. Review by Susan Bennett
Review: DaDaFest International 2014: Ship of Fools
Review: DaDaFest International 2014: Syndrome 3.1: Music/ Brain Experiments
Mixing science, music and the visual arts to explore the nature of performance and deafness, using realtime brainwave scanning to generate a live improvised score. Susan Bennett witness a performance culminating from a 4-day residency with the Frozen Music Collective, Ruth Montgomery and Danny Lane from Music and the Deaf, and a team of neuroscientists and coders.
Review: DaDaFest International 2014: You Are My Sunshine: Terry Galloway
Review: DaDaFest International 2014: Unsung Hero: Liverpool's Most Radical Son
Edward Rushton, poet, activist and scouser has been forgotten and left in the margins of our history... until now. As part of this years’ festival, DaDaFest have partnered with The International Slavery Museum, The Museum of Liverpool and the Victoria Gallery and Museum to celebrate the life of this fascinating figure through a series of displays featuring at each site. Review by Jade French
Review: Disability Arts Touring Network: The Ugly Girl
Review: Maggie Sawkins: Zones of Avoidance
Review: DaDaFest International 2014: Sophie Partridge's 'Song of Semmersuaq'
Review: DaDaFest International 2014: Lisa Simpson's 'Brought to Life'
Review: DaDaFest International 2014: The Life and Impact of Edward Rushton
Unsung - Liverpool's Most Radical Son is an exhibition at the Museum of Liverpool celebrating the bicentennial of the life of Edward Rushton (1756 – 1814). DaDaFest marked the beginning of Disability History Month with a day of talks in the museum about the life and impact of the City's most implacable anti-slavery abolitionist, human rights activist and pioneer for disability rights. Review by Cate Jacobs
Review: DaDaFest International 2014: 'Unsung' by John Graham Davies and James Quinn
Edward Rushton (1756–1814) was Liverpool’s most implacable anti-slavery abolitionist, human rights activist and pioneer for disability rights. If like Susan Bennett, you had not heard of him, then Saturday 22 November at DaDaFest gave an opportunity to catch up with three events highlighting the bicentenary, social activism and legacy of the man, including a rehearsed reading of a new play inspired by his life
Review: UK Disability History Month 2014: War And Impairment
Review: Disability Arts Touring Network: Krip-Hop Nation
Krip-Hop Nation continues to grow internationally as a platform for disabled artists and a voice for disability-led justice and politics. Featuring MCs, rappers and DJs from the US, Germany, Uganda and the UK, supported by the Disability Arts Touring Network (DATN). Review by Cate Jacobs of their show at the Citadel, St Helens on 13 November
Review: DaDaFest International 2014: The City Speaks
The City Speaks is a guided tour to Liverpool's political and cultural history of the city and its people. Created by sound artist Chas de Swiet, the audio work provides an aural tapestry made up of snippets and snapshots of Liverpool past and present, stories told in song, poetry, interviews and observations, all set against natural background sounds. Review by Deborah Caulfield
Review: DaDaFest International 2014: Art of the Lived Experiment
Review: Gobscure present Collector of Tears
Review: Rite of Passage: a gravedigger's memoir by Peter Street
Review: Shape Open 2014: Too Wonderful to be [in]Visible
This year's Shape Open exhibition questions how we perceive disability, using painting, audio, textile, and even a mask made of meat to look beyond that which is visible. Currently in its third year, Shape Open is an annual call-out for both disabled and non-disabled artists to submit work of any medium in response to a disability-focused theme - this year, '[in]visible'. Mik Scarlet wheeled his way through the vast Westfield shopping complex to the exhibition.
Review: Creative Minds South West one day conference
In spite of grisly weather, the turn-out for The Creative Minds Conference on 14th October at Bristol’s Harbourside was excellent with nearly 200 delegates arriving for registration. Tanvir Bush was there from the start, soaking up the palpable excitement, energy and general feeling of great warmth and camaraderie amongst the performers and organisers.
Review: The Greatness of ‘Great Britain’ at the Theatre Royal Haymarket
Richard Bean’s fast and furious play is an anarchic piece about the press, the police and the political establishment. Star Lucy Punch who plays Paige Britain was recently reported in the Independent to describe the satire as ‘a fond look on tabloid journalism’. For Mik Scarlet it is a laughter-filled satire based on a truth almost too real to be funny.
Review: Forest Forge Theatre Company: Woman of Flowers by Kaite O'Reilly
Storylines: Mapping the past - a Carousel project
Storylines is a project which brings the memories and stories of older people with learning difficulties to the public through live events which combine video projection, performance and poetry. The pilot project has been led by young learning disabled artists Becky Bruzas, Jason Eade, Tina Dickinson and Sarah Watson from the Oska Bright steering committee. Review by Alan Morrison
Review: Actors Touring Company [ATC]: Blind Hamlet
Produced by Actors Touring Company [ATC] Blind Hamlet is currently doing the rounds on a nationwide tour. Written by Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour, best known for his work White Rabbit, Red Rabbit, Colin Hambrook looks at how the author plays with theatrical convention using an exemplary charm and wit to explore metaphors on ‘sight’ and 'truth'
Review: Unlimited 2014: Caroline Bowditch: Falling in Love with Frida
Combining monologue and dance, Caroline Bowditch’s Falling in Love with Frida is a passionate reclamation of Frida Kahlo as a disabled artist and a reflection on how we are remembered by others. Victoria Wright reviews a performance at the Queen Elizabeth Hall as part of the Unlimited Festival.
Unlimited 2014: Touretteshero: Backstage in Biscuit Land
Review: Penny Pepper: Lost in Spaces
Review: Unlimited 2014: The Vacuum Cleaner’s Madlove Asylum Workshop
Review: Unlimited 2014: Birds of Paradise and Random Accomplice: Wendy Hoose
Review: Unlimited 2014: Jo Bannon: Exposure
Review: Unlimited 2014: Juan delGado: The Flickering Darkness (Revisited)
Juan delGado's The Flickering Darkness is a video installation filmed at the Corabastos market in Bogotá (Columbia), the largest of its kind in Latin America. Produced during a three-month residency in the city in 2009 and re-edited for Unlimited, the project explores the journey produce sold at the market takes, from its arrival before dawn to its consumption. Review by Gary Thomas
Review: Unlimited 2014: Bekki Perriman: The Doorways Project
Review: Unlimited 2014: Stopgap Dance Company: The Awakening
Review: Unlimited 2014: Unleashed
Review: Unlimited 2014: Touretteshero and Captain Hotknives
In the hallowed foyer of the Queen Elizabeth Hall, arty eclectics and normal people buzzed and filled the rather large space to standing room only for the arrival of not just any old superheroes... Wendy Young was at the 'Unlimited Friday Tonic' for biscuits and songs about animal sex, from Touretteshero and Captain Hotknives
Review: Unlimited 2014: the vacuum cleaner: Madlove
James Leadbitter aka the vacuum cleaner has been asking people how they would design a safe place to go mad, in a series of 3 hour workshops in the Royal Festival Hall. What would the ideal mental hospital be like? John O'Donoghue went to find out about the blueprint for a Madlove Designer Asylum.
Review: Unlimited 2014: Michelle Ryan & Torque: Intimacy
Review: Unlimited 2014: Drake Music: Seasons 4.0
Review: Unlimited 2014: A Celebration of Integrated Community Dance
Review: Unlimited 2014: Lea Cummings: ‘Cosmic fields of endless possibilities’
Review: Unlimited 2014 Katherine Araniello, The Dinner Party Revisited
Review: Unlimited 2014: Perceptions of Difference: DAO & Survivors' Poetry
On Level 5 on the Royal Festival Hall lies the Saison Poetry Library: an eclectic crowd gathered to hear poetry from four stalwarts of the Survivors' Movement. Wendy Young was there for the inspiring words of Hilary Porter, John O’Donoghue, Debjani Chatterjee MBE, Frank Bangay the Bard of Hackney! MC’d by Colin Hambrook.
Review: Unlimited 2014: Julie McNamara: Let Me Stay
Review: Unlimited 2014: Robert Softley Gale: If These Spasms Could Speak
Review: Unlimited 2014: Claire Cunningham: Guide Gods
Review: Unlimited 2014 Opening event: Does It Matter? World War I Shorts
Like the excellent opening of Glastonbury 2014 Festival’s Sunday programme with the English National Ballet performing Akram Khan’s World War I themed ‘Dust’, Unlimited Festival got into full swing with five disabled artists’ responses to the centenary of The Great War. Review by Trish Wheatley
Review: Liberty 2014
Review: Francesca Martinez: ‘What the **** is Normal?!’
Review: Shape Artist's Network talk by Aaron McPeake on receiving the Adam Reynolds Memorial Bursary
Adam Reynolds Bursary winner Aaron McPeake gave a talk at the Shape Gallery in Westfield on his Spike Island residency on 3 July, as part of the launch of Shape’s Artist Network; a new, quarterly event for emerging and mid-career artists to get together, develop new collaborations and share ideas for professional development. Colin Hambrook reflects on the artists' practice.
Review: Jez Colborne: GIFT at the Southbank Centre
Review: Vital Xposure presents Julie McNamara’s Let Me Stay as part of the Anxiety Festival
Since opening in Auckland, New Zealand at the end of 2013, Vital Xposure’s latest production Let Me Stay has been touring the UK. Having won an Unlimited Award, Julie McNamara is set to stage the show she has written for and with her mum at the Southbank Centre in September. Bella Todd saw the one-woman show at The Albany, Deptford.
Review: DaDaFest: Working Lives: Here & There
Working Lives: Here & There is the latest exhibition by DadaFest, a disability and deaf arts organisation based in Liverpool, aiming to explore disability and employment, not just locally in Liverpool, but worldwide, through photographs and supporting narratives of disabled people in their workplaces. Review by Jade French
Review: Shape Gallery: Shortlist 6
Shape have just launched Shortlist 6: an exhibition of work marking the 6 years of the Adam Reynolds Memorial Bursary awards. Colin Hambrook visited Shape’s pop-up gallery in Westfield Shopping Centre, Stratford to see the work of the most recent bursary-winner, Aaron McPeake alongside that of three of the shortlisted artists.
Review: Owen Lowery: Otherwise Unchanged
Unlimited is supporting a reading tour of Owen Lowery’s first major poetry collection, Otherwise Unchanged, published with the major literary publishing house, Carcanet. The inspiration for the book is as wide-ranging as the poems that it includes, with work drawn from everyday experiences of love, life, and disability, and others that owe their inspiration to myriad literary and artistic interests. Simon Jenner reviews
Review: Stratford Circus, Face Front Theatre & Ramira Arts Collective: No Barriers with Barriers
Peter Faventi of Stratford Circus’s Blue Sky Actors and associate artist at Face Front Inclusive Theatre Company, with Ramira Arts Collective present: No Barriers with Barriers a striking site-specific play performing at Rowans Bowling Alley, in the heart of Finsbury Park London. Sophie Partridge went along to find that access barriers are still grossly misunderstood…
Review: SenseAbility: Peter White on inclusion in the arts
Peter White, reknowned BBC correspondent and editor of Radio 4’s In Touch, rounded off ‘SenseAbility’ - a successful four-day event from 10-13 June, at the Pound Arts Centre in Corsham, Wiltshire. Organized by Tanvir Bush in partnership with Bath Spa University, SenseAbility explored inclusion in the arts. Review by Emmeline Burdett
Review: From There to Here: The hidden history of People with Learning Difficulties at Liverpool Museum
Visiting a provocative exhibition on at the Museum of Liverpool until 13 July, Jade French explores the unseen history of people with learning difficulties and asks: why aren’t we doing more in our galleries to make ideas accessible? Article reproduced with kind permission of The Double Negative.
Review: Allan Sutherland: Neglected Voices at DAiSY Fest 2014
On the same bill as Penny Pepper at DAiSY Fest on 4 June was veteran disability arts performer Allan Sutherland (author of the groundbreaking Disabled We Stand 1981). In his introduction to the event Dao editor Colin Hambrook, described his mission to present art as a tool to counter prejudice. Review by Wendy Young
Review: Gary Thomas: Hidden at DAiSY Fest
DAiSY Fest at GLIve on 4th June showcased Gary Thomas’s monologue Hidden starring Nathan Thompson. Taking his audience on a journey through some of the darkest thoughts we can share about ourselves: following a police stop and search, the principle character Sam’s delusions take over to the point that he becomes a person he no longer recognizes. Review by Deborah Caulfield
Review: BBC Four: John Ogdon: Living with Genius
BBC Four’s profile of Britain's greatest ever classical pianist and of one of the most successful musical partnerships of the last 50 years, that of John Ogdon and wife Brenda Lucas Ogdon was shown on 6 June. Review by Wendy Young
Review: Penny Pepper: Lost in Spaces at DAiSY Fest
Review: Deafinitely Theatre's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream
Review: New Shape Gallery at Westfield Shopping Centre
Review: Katherine Araniello & Jenna Finch: Screw the Taboo
Review: Eye Queue Hear by Access All Areas
Review: Pangaea: New Art from Africa and Latin America at Saatchi Gallery
The ‘Pangaea’ exhibition, running until 2nd November, offers visitors a variety of mixed media paintings and sculpture from Africa and Latin America. Jessie Woodward offers a review of access within the Saatchi Gallery, London
Review: Matisse Cut Outs | Tate Modern, London
Review: Cooltan Arts and Artangel: On Our Way Here
Review: Poet in the City: Poetry and Sign
Review: The Dandifest Fete, Norwich
Review: CoolTan Arts Largactyl Shuffle @ Science Museum LATES launch
Wendy Young went to the launch of ‘CoolTan Arts Stays Up, LATES’, a collaborative book and DVD on mental health heritage, held at The Science Museum’s Dana Centre in South Kensington. The publication is the finale of a year long HLF funded project in which CoolTan Arts Largactyl Shuffle volunteers researched and led a series of guided gallery tours at The Science Museum’s popular ‘Lates’ evening events.
Review: Extant present The Chairs
Review: The Norwich Dandies present Dandifest!
Review: ‘Ivor Gurney: The Poet Who Loved the War’, BBC4
This BBC 4 documentary, shown on 4th April, tells the remarkable story of the First World War soldier-poet who broke all the rules. Ivor Gurney wasn't an officer but a private who initially joined up in the hope that the ordered army life would help ease a mental health condition. Review by Emmeline Burdett
Review: Graeae and Circo Crescer e Viver present Belonging
Review: ‘Good Kings Bad Kings’ a novel by Susan Nussbaum
Winner of the Pen/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction, 'Good Kings Bad Kings’ (Oneworld Publications, 2014) by the American playwright and disability campaigner Susan Nussbaum, is a novel about life inside the walls of the Illinois Learning and Life Skills Center (ILLC), - an institution for juveniles with disabilities. Review by Emmeline Burdett
Review: Sky One: The Smoke
Review: Signdance Collective International get all shook up with Bad Elvis
Review: If These Spasms Could Speak by Robert Softley
'Informed', 'irreverent' and 'humane' are three words used on the SICK! Festival brochure welcome page to introduce the aims of the festival in shining a light on issues that often remain hidden, taboo or misunderstood in daily life. Colin Hambrook explains why If These Spasms Could Speak fits the bill admirably.
Review: Hayward Gallery host Martin Creed's 'What's the point of it?'
Winner of the 2001 Turner Prize, Creed uses a wide range of artistic media and including music, his art changes everyday materials and actions into surprising reflections on life. Jessie Woodward sent in the following review of access within the exhibition, which is on show until 5 May.
Review: Graeae Theatre present The Threepenny Opera
Review: Chris Fonseca: So Beautiful Choreography
Review: You're Not Alone by Kim Noble
As if by divine orchestration an unusual and eerie fog descends on Brighton a few hours prior to the start of You’re Not Alone – Kim Noble’s only performance as part of the eclectic and brilliantly programmed SICK! Festival in Brighton. Sarah Pickthall returned through the mists to send in this review.
Review: Wendy Hoose, from Birds of Paradise/ Random Accomplice Theatre Companies
Review: The Hold, from Lung Ha’s Theatre Company, in collaboration with National Museums Scotland
Scotland’s leading theatre company for actors with learning difficulties performed a promenade piece 'The Hold' in one of the country’s top museums in Edinburgh from 12-16 March. Paul F Cockburn isn’t usually a fan of this style of theatre, but this new collaboration proved to be an exception.
Review: Vital Xposure presents Julie McNamara’s Let Me Stay
Described as A tender and unique exploration of the impact of Alzheimer's on family relations, Julie McNamara’s Let Me Stay evokes her mother's songs and stories to create a personal piece of theatrical storytelling. Cath Nichols saw the performance at the Bluecoats, Liverpool on12th March.
Review: Creative Minds South East one-day conference
It’s a bold question to pose, especially at a time when funding cuts conspire to put all creative organisations on the defensive: how do we perceive, discuss and measure quality in work by artists with learning disabilities? Bella Todd reports on the performing arts aspect of the Creative Minds conference, held on 10th March at Brighton Dome - and asks some pertinent questions to stimulate further debate.
Review: Frozen by fingermsiths
Review: The Eradication of Schizophrenia in Western Lapland by Ridiculusmus
Review: Kiruna Stamell and Gareth Berliner: One of Us Will Die
Review: Stopgap Dance Company tours Artificial Things
Review: Disability: A New History on BBC i-player
Review: Growing Up Downs: Blue Apple Theatre documentary on BBC 3
Review: Beauty and the Beast by One of Us in co-production with Improbable
Mat Fraser and Julie Atlas Muz poke fun at the absurdity of normality in their new production of the age old tale of Beauty and Beast. Directed by Phelim McDermott, Artistic Director of Improbable, the company conspire to make an adult fairytale like no other. Tam Gilbert reviews a performance at the Young Vic, London
Review: Together 2013
Review: The Anatomy of Melancholy produced by Ovalhouse and Stan's Cafe
A 500,000 word text on the nature of melancholy, first published in 1621: Stan's Cafe have made Robert Burton's archaic text into a stage play. Quirky and illuminating, or insane and heavy-going? And what does it all tell us about what we would call 'depression?' Nicole Fordham Hodges went to the Ovalhouse Theatre on 30 November to find out.
Review: BBC Imagine: Turning the Art World Inside Out
The latest in Alan Yentob’s ‘Imagine’ series on BBC One attempted to examine how we define ‘Outsider Art’ asking “Why in 2013 is Outsider Art finally being feted by the art establishment, and what took it so long?” Michelle Kopczyk gives a critical analysis of how the programme failed to provide answers.
Review: Hastings Storytelling Festival: The Velvet Curtain
Produced by 18 Hours for the Hastings Storytelling Festival The Velvet Curtain featured an evening of adult entertainment with burlesque performers Penny Pepper, Liz Bentley, Caroline Smith AKA Mertle Merman and Crimson Skye. Esther Fox was there as the curtain parted to reveal four mistresses of the titillating tale.
Review: Knitting Time by Colin Hambrook
Extraordinary Change: Engage International Conference 2013
Engage are an advocacy and support organisation for gallery education. Liz Porter attended their international conference in Birmingham on 7-8 November, which explored the challenges that education in galleries and the visual arts face in a period of uncertainty.
Review: BBC One's Ripper Street
Review: Oska Bright Film Festival 2013
John O'Donoghue went along to the launch of Oska Bright at Brighton's Corn Exchange. The bi-annual film festival features the work of learning disabled artists both from the UK and from international entrants. Each film has to be a short and include learning disabled artists in the film-making process. Now in its tenth year Oska Bright continues to showcase work that is innovative, striking, quirky.
Review: DYSPLA Festival 2013
Review: ‘An Earthworm called Girlfriend and Other Stories’ by the Grace Eyre creative writing group
Review: The Spark: Creative Future Literary Award Winners
Review: The Shape Open 2013: Disability Re-assessed
Review: Day Six: When Motherhood and Madness Collide
Overview: Common Pulse: Intersecting Abilities
Review: The Art of Bounce: Disability Arts Festival in Belfast
Review: Short Circuit: When Disability And Digital Collide
Review: DaDaFest On Tour: Young DaDaFest 2013
Review: All Eyes On Us by Eelyn Lee Productions at the East End Film Festival
Review: Don’t Call Me Crazy - documentary season on BBC Three
Review: Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger by Hijinx Theatre and Frantic Assembly
Review: The Adventures of Sancho Panza by Hijinx Theatre as part of the Unity Festival
Review: Extrêmitiés by Cirque Inextremiste as part of the Unity Festival
Billed as circus performance the Cirque Inextremiste were appearing for the first time in Wales, presenting their newest piece Extrêmités, as part of this year’s Unity Festival at the Wales Millenium Centre in Cardiff. Tom Wentworth witnessed the loud bangs, bright lights and spectacular surprises!
Review: Greaeae: The Limbless Knight - a tale of rights reignited at the Greenwich and Docklands Festival
Review: Don't Wake Me: The Ballad of Nihal Armstrong
Review: A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Taking Flight Theatre Company as part of the Unity Festival
Review: Alternative Guide to the Universe at the Hayward Gallery, London
Review: Souzou: Outsider Art from Japan at the Wellcome Collection, London
The first major display of Japanese Outsider Art in the UK is showing at the Wellcome Collection until 30 June. The 46 artists represented are residents and day attendees in social welfare institutions across Japan. Nicole Fordham Hodges went to see and experience the power which is 'Souzou'.
Review: The Angina Monologue by Doug Devaney
Review: COnscription by Caglar Kimyoncu
COnscription explores the call-up to military service for people who don't 'fit the mould'. The four-channel film is on show at the Old Truman Brewery, London until 18 May. Joe McConnell reviews a multimedia installation which follows the stories of four individuals who meet at a military hospital - three subjects under assessment and their doctor.
Review: Vital Xposure presents The Knitting Circle
Review: The Everyman & Playhouse Theatres in Liverpool present A Day in the Death of Joe Egg
Review: A Reflection on The Other Side of the Coin by Signdance Collective International
Review: PhotoVoice’s launch ‘Able Voices: Participatory photography as a tool for for inclusion’
Review: CoolTan Arts presents 'Making it Happen' at the BFI
CoolTan Arts film project let participants explore the process any individual needs to go through to access a personal budget, by expressing their experiences of the personalisation process through their own words, filmmaking and animation. Richard Downes attended a screening at NFT2, British Film Institute on 25 March
Review: SICK! Festival presents Sick Notes an online archive
Sick Notes is part of SICK!, an ambitious, cross art-form festival that seeks out new ways of talking about and dealing with the experience of sickness. Sick Notes is an online video archive of sick jokes and funny stories about illness. John O’Donoghue likes a good laugh. But will Sick Notes deliver?
Review: Taking Flight Theatre Company present Real Human Being
Review: Side by Side Exhibition at the Southbank Centre
Review: SICK! Festival presents the vacuum cleaner's acclaimed show Mental
Review: SICK! Festival presents Bobby Baker's Mad Gyms and Kitchens
Review: WOW festival presents Claire Cunningham's Ménage à Trois
Review: The Portrait Anatomised at the National Portrait Gallery
Review: Criptease at Southbank Centre's WOW festival
Review: Arts & Disability Ireland and Fire Station Artists' Studios ‘Pathways to Practice’ symposium
Review: Shape In The City’s Pop-Up Gallery
Review: SICK! Festival presents Jochem Stavenuiter's Eleonora
Review: Mother Courage and her Children by the Library Theatre Company
Review: All Eyes On Us by Eelyn Lee Productions and young people from the Olympic host boroughs
'All Eyes On Us' is a short film and photographic exhibition that follows the journey of four disabled people in the run up, performance and aftermath of the opening ceremony for the London 2012 Paralympic Games. Nina Mühlemann went to a showing at the Free Word Centre, Farringdon, London on 28 February
Review: SICK! Festival presents Under Observation
Review: Spare Tyre Theatre present 'Scratches'
Spare Tyre’s Associates join forces with their Company of Artists to showcase stories, imaginations and physicalities through spoken word, song, dance, movement and film. Nicole Fordham Hodges saw 'Scratches' at the Albany Theatre, London on 27 February. It was joyous, playful and rude.
Review: Birds of Paradise present 'In An Alien Landscape'
Review: Unlimited: an evening of film in the Southbank Centre
Review: TransAction Theatre present dIRTy
Review: Light Show at the Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre
Light Show brings together sculptures and installations from 22 artists who use light to sculpt and shape space. Richard Downes is disturbed and illuminated by this exhibition of immersive environments, free-standing light sculptures and projections on show at the Hayward Gallery, London until 28 April 2013.
Review: Improbable Theatre: Devoted & Disgruntled 2013
Review: Arc Dance Company perform A Sense of Beauty at The Place's annual Resolution event
Review: DASH and Live Art Development Agency present M21: From the Medieval to the 21st Century
On 24 January, Toynbee Studios in East London saw the launch of a joint Dash, Live Art Development Agency publication: ‘M21: from the Medieval to the 21st Century'. Several disabled artists commissioned through the Unlimited programme were there to talk about their experience. Richard Downes reports.
Review: Fox Searchlight Pictures present 'The Sessions'
There has been a surge of documentaries and films in recent times which claim to be exposing taboos about disabled people. The Sessions is the latest in a list including 'Rust and Bone' and 'The Undateables'. Most seem to be exploitative, narcissistic and made with the able-bodied gaze says Rosaleen McDonagh
Review: Shape present 'Perceptions Of Balance'
Nine artists, brought together as part of Shape’s Creative Steps programme, use varied media to illustrate and express their encounters with how they may or may not experience equilibrium. The exhibition is on show at Lauderdale House until 3rd February 2013. Review by Richard Downes
Review: Together 2012: End Of Festival Party
Review: ActOne ArtsBase present A Sense of Beauty
ActOne ArtsBase are currently producing a dance and performance workshop called 'A Sense of Beauty' for schools, hospices, hospitals, theatres and outdoor venues across the East of England and surrounding areas. Katie Fraser discusses her experience of being part of the organisations training programme.
Review: CoolTan Arts: 'The Winter Edition'
Review: Hijinx, Odyessy present Whispers on the Waves
Review: Corali Dance present 'One of a Kind' and other new works
Review: The Lowry present Arabian Nights
Review: The Place present Fresh 2012
Review: Signdance Collective International present ‘The Other Side of the Coin’
Review: One World: Conference on the UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled People
Review: Together 2012: Open Poetry Workshop with CoolTan Arts
Review: Shape present The Adam Reynolds Bursary Shortlist Five and the First Four
Review: Jason Becker: Not Dead Yet
Review: Liz Crow presents 'Bedding In' as part of The Spill Festival
Review: Together 2012 Festival Launched
Review: The World Press Photo Awards 2012 at the Royal Festival Hall
Review: The Lowry present The Makropulos Case: An opera in three acts
Review: Hijinx Theatre present The Adventures of Sancho Panza
Review: Abigail McLellan (1969 – 2009): A Retrospective at Rebecca Hossack Gallery
Abigail McLellan was an acclaimed artist when she was diagnosed with MS in 1999. She continued to produce and refine her intense, vibrant art for the last ten years of her life, often using ingenious techniques to outwit the effects of her illness. She died aged 40. Nicole Fordham Hodges went to the Rebecca Hossack Gallery to see the retrospective of her work on show until 1 December.
Review: Marc Brew Company present a Triple Bill featuring Dame Evelyn Glennie
Preview: Lets Make History Together 2012
Review: Playwriting Mentoring Project for new and emerging playwrights with Kaite O’Reilly
Review: Changing Lives, Changing Times
Sophie Partridge saw a recent performance of 'Changing Lives, Changing Times' by students from the Cathedral Academy of Performing Arts and Cockburn School, staged by the The Centre for Disability Studies and School of Performance & Cultural Industries at Leeds University. She sent the following review to DAO
Review: Outside In: National 2012
Review: Mugenkyo Taiko Drummers
Review: Rosaleen McDonagh's ‘Mainstream’
Review: Karamel Gallery presents I Am An Artist
Karamel Gallery in North London, plays host to an art exhibition produced with a group of people with learning difficulties. The students from Area 51 further education college were engaged in painting portraits of their favourite competitors. Richard Downes happened along and sent in the following review.
Review: The Robin Hood Book: 131 Poets in Support of a Robin Hood Tax
Review: Free: Art by Offenders, Secure Patients and Detainees
Review: Celebrating The Legacy of Woody Guthrie
To celebrate the 100th anniversary of music legend Woody Guthrie’s birth, Billy Bragg curated a performance at Queen Elizabeth Hall on 16 September with singer-songwriters Joe Henry and Grace Petrie. Richard Downes responds to the songs and the legacy handed down by Guthrie - arguably one of the most influential musicians of the 20th Century.
Review: SOMEDAY ALL THE ADULTS WILL DIE: Punk Graphics 1971- 1984 at the Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre
Review: Unlimited Global Alchemy: Rachel Gadsden and the Bambanini
Review: Unlimited: Bee Detective by Tin Bath Theatre
Review: Unlimited: The Garden
Review: Unlimited: Maurice Orr's 'The Screaming Silence of the Wind'
Maurice Orr's paintings are designed to be touched. His innovative use of dried fish skins as media, and the unusual access he gives to his paintings, makes this exhibition - on show in the Festival Village at the Southbank Centre until 9 September - a memorable experience. Nicole Fordham Hodges saw and touched these respectfully wild landscapes
Review: Unlimited: Sinéad O'Donnell's 'CAUTION'
Sinéad O'Donnell's Unlimited commission CAUTION explores notions of identity, similarity and difference through journeys, actions and performance in real-time and online resulting in an exhibition of installation and performance. Colin Hambrook took part in the performance in the Royal Festival Hall on 1 September
Review: Unlimited: Simon Allen's 'Resonance At The Still Point Of Change'
Richard Downes tries to stave off his emotional responses to a situation created by Simon Allen and his team through a song cycle backed with musical and natural sounds, electronic processes and multi-screen images. Part of the Unlimited Festival 'Resonance At The Still Point Of Change' was performed in the Queen Elizabeth Hall on 4 September
Review: Unlimited: Chris Tally Evans' Turning Points
Review: Liberty Festival 2012
Review: Unlimited: Mark Brew Company’s 'Fusional Fragments'
Review: DaDaFest 2012
DaDaFest brings artists from across the globe to Liverpool to showcase and celebrate the best in Disability and Deaf Arts. These pages contain a selection of reviews, and responses from Colin Hambrook, Trish Wheatley, Cate Jacobs and Susan Bennet to the eclectic programme of international performance arts, visual arts and discussion that took place between 13 July - 2 September 2012
Review: Kiruna Stamell and Gareth Berliner present ‘A little Commitment’
Review: Aylesbury Paralympic Flame Celebration
Review: Unlimited: Claire Cunningham presents Ménage à Trois
Review: Unlimited: The Lawnmowers present 'Boomba Down the Tyne'
Review: Liz Bentley: AAA Rating
Review: Fairport’s Cropredy Festival 2012
Review: A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Review: Superhuman at the Wellcome Trust
Review: Mark Ware's 'Cathedra 900' at Exeter Cathedral
Review: Battle for the Winds with Breathe at Weymouth live site
The impressive Olympic live site on Weymouth beach provided the setting for the culmination of Battle for the Winds incorporating the Unlimited commission Breathe. The large-scale outdoor performance took place on 28th of July to mark the beginning of the sailing events at the stunning Dorset location.
Review: Unlimited: In Water I’m Weightless, at the Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff
Review: New Music 20x12 at the Southbank Centre
Review: Youth Dance England’s 'U Dance 2012'
Review: Road to 2012: Aiming High
Review: The Festival of the World Museum at the Southbank Centre
At the same time as London's Southbank Centre prepares to showcase the 29 Unlimited commissions by disabled and deaf artists, located at Spirit Level on Level 1 of Royal Festival Hall is the Festival of the World Museum, which displays a few prominent moments from the history of Disability Arts.
Review: The Gershwins’ Porgy And Bess by Cape Town Opera
Review: Edvard Munch: The Modern Eye at Tate Modern
Review: Simon McKeown's 'Motion Disabled: Unlimited'
Review: Niet Normaal: Difference on Display
Adapted from a landmark Dutch exhibition, Niet Normaal (a popular phrase literally translated as ‘not normal’, but also meaning ‘cool’) features work in a variety of media. DAO is gathering a range of responses to the major DaDaFest exhibition on display at the Bluecoat Gallery, Liverpool from now until the 2 September.
Unlimited: Review: Macropolis at Belfast City Hall Big Screen
Review: Priceless London Wonderground present Cantina
Review: Damon Albarn presents Dr Dee
Review: Unlimited: Ramesh Mayyappan presents 'Skewered Snails'
Review: Unlimited: Laurence Clark presents 'Inspired'
Review: Unlimited: Chris Tally-Evans presents 'Turning Points'
Review: the British Paraorchestra
DAO Director Trish Wheatley saw the debut performance of the British Paraorchestra in the impressive grounds of Glastonbury Abbey on Sunday 1 July. World-renowned conductor and Somerset resident Charles Hazlewood introduced the ensemble to the crowd on the final day of his Orchestra in a Field festival.
Review: Unlimited: Sue Austin creating 'Creating the Spectacle!' at the Fleet, Dorset
Another of the Unlimited commissions got a public outing on 27 June when Sue Austin - whose work, ‘Creating the Spectacle!’, will be enacted in its entirety on 29 August and filmed for showing at the London 2012 Festival in September - showed off the wheelchair which is the star of the show and her vehicle to another world. Gini went along to soak up the atmosphere
Review: Yoko Ono 'To The Light'
Review: Unlimited: Rachel Gadsden's Unlimited Global Alchemy
Review: Imagine... Theatre of War BBC 1 26 June 10.35 pm
Review: Unlimited: Jez Colborne's Irresistible - Call of the Sirens can be heard whatever the weather
Review: Greenwich + Docklands International Festival 2012
Review: Unlimited: Janice Parker presents Private Dancer
Review: Graeae present Prometheus Awakes
Review: Handspring Puppet Company present Crow
Review: Hayward Gallery presents Invisible – Art of the Unseen 1957-2012
Review: Deaffest 2012
Review: Outside Spaces at Southbank's Festival of the World
Review: 2Heavy Productions present Blue/Orange
Review: Southbank Centre's 'Festival of the World'
Review: Amadou and Mariam
Unlimited Review: Fittings - The Ugly Spirit at Square Chapel, Halifax
Review: Abnormally Funny People
Preview: One Morning In May - Noëmi Lakmaier
Review: imove - LeanerFasterStronger
Review: Mousetrap Theatre Projects present Shrek The Musical
Review: Don't You Forget About Me - InMind at the RA
Review: Love's Labour's Lost Performed in BSL by Deafinitely Theatre
Review: The International Symposium and Hippocrates Awards for Poetry and Medicine
Review: Abnormally Funny People
Review: Tales From The Other Side by Christopher Ejsmond
Review: Unlimited - DaSH's M21 Live Art Festival
DaSH's (Disability Arts Shropshire) M21 Live Art Festival was commissioned by the Unlimited programme, part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. Lynn Cox gives a Visually Impaired Person’s perspective on the event which took over the mediavel town of Much Wenlock in Shropshire from 5-6 May.
Review: Unlimited - David Toole's 'The Impending Storm'
Review: My Song: a film about inclusion and exclusion
Review: Hang Ups starring Sophie Partridge
Review: The Hunterian Museum present Anatomize
Review: Unlimited - Ramesh Meyyappan presents Snails & Ketchup
Review: Birmingham Rep Theatre present Gravity
Review: Shape Open
Review: SignDance Collective perform 'New Gold' and 'Half a Penny'
Review: Laurence Clark: Health Hazard
Review: Liz Porter reflects on Carousel's inaugural performance of Gold Run
In celebration of Carousel’s 30th birthday, the organisation have teamed up with the music education department at Glyndebourne and artists from the Pallant House ‘Outside In’ project to create a new Cultural Olympiad show that tells the story of the special Olympics through song, film, music and visual arts.
Review: Next Swan Down the River Might be Black
‘Next Swan Down the River Might Be Black’ has been described by playwright Sean Burns as a personal response to being sectioned under the Mental Health Act. Obi Chiejina concludes that whilst the subject matter may be unfamiliar to theatre audiences the quest for personal fulfilment the play explores, is rooted in English romantic fiction.
Review: Brian Lobel presents Ball and Other Funny Stories About Cancer
Review: Anatomy of an Athlete Elite sport, surgery and medical art
'Anatomy of an Athlete' is showing at The Royal College of Surgeons’, Hunterian Museum until 29 September. Obi Chiejina put the exhibition of four new artworks from five medical artists under the microscope to discover that the boundaries between sport sciences and the illustrative arts are not as distinct as she thought.
Review: Deafinitely Theatre present Gold Dust
Deafinitely Theatre's new production Gold Dust, written by Andrew Muir and based on the stories of the deaf community in the Black Country, plays at Soho Theatre, London from 28 - 31 March. Writing from his experience as a family man, Charlie Swinbourne recommends the companies latest excursion into themes that inform deaf culture
Review: Extant present Sheer
Review: Robert Softley presents If These Spasms Could Speak
Writer/actor Robert Softley asked a simple question while preparing his new show, as part of the 2012 Behaviour festival at The Arches in Glasgow. Given how much their bodies define how others see them, what do disabled people think of their bodies themselves? The answers, as Paul F Cockburn discovered, might surprise you.
Review: We Won’t Drop The Baby
Review: Cooltan Arts: Women of Dickens exhibition
Review: Ardent Hare present First Impressions - a Go Public commission
Review: Abnormally Funny People
Review: Rita Simons - My daughter, deafness and me (BBC1)
Review: SELECT EDIT: PUBLIC PRIVATE
Windows with a Difference presented a day of artists' talks at The New Art Gallery Walsall, on 29 February 2012. Tamar Whyte's personal and moving interpretation of this event on the theme of Art and Health, demonstrates the perspective of artists, and the enrichment of talking about our diversity.
Review: The Man Who Lived Twice by Birds of Paradise
Review: Jacob Bell and the Artists/Royal Pharmaceutical Society
Review: Ceramic Impressions/ British Dental Association
The ceramic artist Judy DiBase extracted dental exhibits from the British Dental Museum to produce a series of quirky ceramic 'memories' for the temporary exhibition 'Ceramic Impressions'. Obi Chiejina explores the use of these extracted dental exhibits and their ceramic responses as forms of human communication, artistic expression and interpretation for the museum visitor. The exhibition runs at the BDA Museum until 24 May.
Review: Picasso and Modern British Art
Review: Spare Tyre launch Picture Me as part of an International Women's Day celebration
Outside the New Diorama Theatre, a huge electronic woman is projected onto a high commercial building. She sways as if on a catwalk, endlessly walking on. Inside, Spare Tyre is celebrating International Women's Day, with a series of performances focussed on violence against women. Reviewed by Nicole Fordham Hodges
Review: Launching Rockets Never Gets Old
'Launching Rockets Never Gets Old' looks at the artistic accidents generated by Raphael Hefti by interfering in industrial glass processes. Obi Chiejina assesses the impact of these accidents upon the artist and gallery visitor. The exhibition runs until the 18th March 2012 at Camden Arts Centre, London.
Review: One man’s weekend as a moth at Devoted & Disgruntled 7
Review: God/Head by Chris Goode
Review: The Madness of George III
Review: Bernadette Cremin tells tales about her Altered Egos
Bernadette Cremin has brought her Altered Egos to the New Venture Theatre, Brighton. This follows its preview as a work-in-progress at Brighton Fringe 2010 where it was runner-up in the Latest Award for Best Literature Performance. Marian Cleary and Trish Wheatley review this new outing for six women with untidy lives.
Review: '1 Beach Road' by RedCape Theatre
1 Beach Road is a new touring production by Turtle Key Arts working with RedCape Theatre - an intriguing drama which explores the metaphorical connection between Alzheimer’s and coastal erosion. Deborah Caulfield reviews a performance at South Street Arts Centre, Reading on 28 February 2012
Review: Improbable Theatre present 'The Devil and Mister Punch'
Review: The Optimism Bias - a talk at the Southbank Centre by author Tali Sharot
Tali Sharot is a rising star at U.C.L.'s department of Cognitive, Perceptual and Brain Sciences. Her book 'The Optimism Bias' came out to great interest and rave reviews. Subtitled "a tour of the irrationally positive brain," Sharot's talk at The Southbank Centre on 15 February, was a tour of a tour. Nicole Fordham Hodges went along for the ride.
Review: Absolutely Funny People
Review: Deafinitely Theatre: 4Play 2012
Review: Graeae Theatre Company's 'Reasons To Be Cheerful'
A national tour of Reasons to be Cheerful goes to Ipswich, Hull, Watford, Dundee, London and Nottingham. Written by Paul Sirett and directed by Graeae's Jenny Sealey, this acclaimed coming of age tale features the greatest hits of Ian Dury and the Blockheads. Deborah Caulfield caught the show at the Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich, on 16th February 2012.
Review: Signs for Sounds: Contemporary Letterforming and Calligraphy
'Signs for Sounds' explores the contemporary practice of letter-forming from traditional calligraphy to the use of digital technologies and performance art. Obi Chiejina saw the Harley Gallery Touring Exhibition curated by Jeremy Theophilus, at the Bilston Craft Gallery, Wolverhampton.
Review: Retina Dance's 'Layers of Skin'
Review: Lucian Freud Portraits
Review: Liz Carr - The Benefits Downstairs
Review: An Instinct for Kindness
An Instinct for Kindness, written and performed by Chris Larner, tells a personal story of how the author took his ex-wife Allyson, to the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland, to commit suicide. Nervously and with some trepidation, Deborah Caulfield went to see the play at Swindon Arts Centre on Thursday 9th February.
Preview: Graeae’s Reasons To Be Cheerful
Review: A Bigger Picture: David Hockney at the Royal Academy
A Bigger Picture at the Royal Academy showcases David Hockney's landscape work. Included are oil paintings, photo-collages, charcoal drawings, watercolours, prints and film. With over 150 works displayed, spanning Hockney’s career of over fifty years, it is as much a celebration as an exhibition and, as such, it exudes generosity and abundance. Debbie Caulfield was profoundly affected.
Preview: Deaf Teens in a Hearing World, BBC3
Review: Death: Southbank Centre's Festival For the Living
Review: Kulunka Teatro's 'Andre & Dorine
Review: Pathways to the Profession Symposium
Review: Rubix and Elephant - spoken word
Review: Mike Leigh's play 'Grief'
Unsilenced Voices: Romani Voices
Preview: Death: Southbank Centre's Festival for the Living
Infinitas Gracias: Mexican Miracle Paintings
Review: Fresh with Cando2 Youth Dance Company
Cando2 performed a site specific dance piece - as part of FRESH - an event showcasing extracts from some of the UK’s best youth and professional dance companies hits of 2011. Sophie Partridge gives a danger warning after her attendance at the event at the Place in London on 3 December.
Review: Edward Burra Retrospective at Pallant House Gallery
The first major exhibition for 25 years of the highly individual work of the popular British artist Edward Burra (1905–1976) is on show at Pallant House Gallery, Chichester until 19th February 2012. Colin Hambrook reviews the life and works of this exceptional watercolourist who documented significant moments in the second half of the 20th century.
Review: ‘Defying Definitions: disability arts in the mainstream’
Alan McLean attends a thought-provoking symposium produced by DaSH, at the end of a series of 'Outside In' commissions. Held at the Arena Theatre Wolverhampton, on 2 December, the day explored Dash's support of work at New Art Gallery Walsall, Oriel Davies Newtown and Wolverhampton Art Gallery.
Review: William Blake Largactyl Shuffle
Review: Oska Bright Film Festival 2011
Review: The View From Here
Review: Alf Wiltshire
Review: Dementia Diaries by Maria Jastrzebska
Review: Bobby Baker - Mad Gyms and Kitchens
Review: Diary Drawings: Mental Illness and Me by Bobby Baker
Review: Channel 4's 'Seven Dwarves'
Review: Vital Xposure presents The Knitting Circle
Reviews: The 5th decibel Performing Arts Showcase
Review: Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2011
Gary Thomas Visited Edinburgh Fringe for the first time this year. He gets about a bit! Here’s a couple of reviews, including the highlights.
Liberty 2011: London's Disability Arts Festival
Review: Longcare Survivors: Biography of a Care Scandal
Review: Nick Blinko's 'Visions of Pope Adrian 37th'
Review: Outside In Launch
Review: The Times Cheltenham Science Festival
The Times Cheltenham Science Festival 2011, 7th – 12th June, held a huge mix of events on every subject under the sun, from stem cells to the psychology of war. Debbe Caulfield attended two linked events under the heading Alternative Ways of Thinking, curated by The Arts Catalyst and Shape focusing on Alternative Ways of Thinking.
Preview: The End by film-maker Ted Evans
Book review: Disability and Social Change: Private lives and public policies
Review: Colin Hambrook '100 Houses'
Review: Up-Stream
Review: Roger Waters performs The Wall Live at the 02 arena
Review: 'Labyrinth of Living Exhibits'
Book review: The Shaking Woman by Siri Hustvedt
Review: RippleFest
Review: Resistance; Which Way the Future
Review: The Great Wall of Vagina by Jamie McCartney
Review: Lung Ha's Theatre Company – Around the World in 80 Days
Review: Bruce Davies exhibition: WASTE/LAND/PROCESS
Review: Mind the Gap – Of Mice and Men
Review: Access All Areas
Review: Mental: A History of the Madhouse
Review: DaDaFest International 2010
DaDaFest – the UK’s leading and biggest deaf and disability arts festival celebrates its tenth year in 2010. In celebration, disabled and non disabled artists from all over the world will perform and exhibit at DaDaFest International 2010, a two week extravaganza of artistic wonder which showcases and celebrates the best in disability and deaf arts.
Review: The House of Vernacular
Review: The Silence? A faint discord, more like
Review: Are you having a laugh? TV and Disability
Review: Re-Presenting Disability - Activism and Agency in the museum
Review: Contemporary Art from Iraq at Cornerhouse, Manchester
Review: Face Front present Counting the Ways
Review: Lisa Hammond and Rachael Spence present No Idea
Review: Bernadette Cremin performs Altered Egos
Review: Polar Bears by Mark Haddon
Review: Fittings present Raspberry - based on the life and times of Ian Dury
Review: DIY Theatre Company - In Other Words at Salford Arts Theatre
Review: Lizzie Emeh - Loud and Proud
Review: Really Old, Like Forty Five by Tamsin Oglesby
Review: Billy Childish - Unknowable but Certain at the ICA, London
The Institute of Contemporary Arts exhibits Billy Childish's first major retrospective of work in London, bringing together a cross-section of works from the artists career as a musician, artist, novelist, film maker and poet. Colin Hambrook reviews the show by this talented, infamous artist.
Review: Caroline Cardus sees How to Look Good Naked... with a Difference
Review: Wings are Giving Out by Sean Burn
Review: Wild Things - Sounds of the Disabled Underground Vol 2
Following the success of last year’s Wild Things CD, Brighton punk band Heavy Load launched the second compilation on their Get in or Get Out label on 10 December 2009 at Komedia, Brighton. Colin Hambrook reviews Volume 2, a double CD featuring artists from all over the world. All proceeds go towards the Stay Up Late campaign
Review: Rita Marcalo's 'Involuntary Dances'
Review: 100 Artists for World Aids Day, Sussex Beacon, Brighton
Review: Climbing Mountains in the Dark by Cate Jacobs
Review: DaDaFest09 - DaDaNoise at the Bluecoat, Liverpool
Review: DaDaFest09 - Mat Fraser performs From Freak To Clique
Review: DaDaFest 2009 - It Hasn’t Happened Yet by Liz Carr
Review: DaDaFest 2009 - Young DaDaFest at the World Museum Liverpool
Review: DaDaFest 2009 - Sally Booth at The Bluecoat
Review: DaDaFest 2009 - Resistance by Liz Crow
Review: DaDaFest09 - Crossings by Julie McNamara
Review: DaDaFest 2009 - Kevin Connolly's Rolling Exhibition at Open Eye Gallery
Review: Animation at Oska Bright Film Festival 2009
Review: DadaFest09 - the Magic Hour at FACT.
Review: Oska Bright Film Festival - The Big Awards Night
Review: Oska Bright 4th International Film Festival 2009
Review: Austen's Women by Rebecca Vaughan & Guy Masterson
Review: Staff Benda Bilili start a dance revolution at the Dome, Brighton
Review: Cast Offs - Skins plus Shameless plus Disability equals what?
Review: Miroslaw Balka's How It Is at Tate Modern - how it was for one visually impaired art lover
Review: Deafinitely Theatre Company perform Double Sentence
Review: Jon Adams - the Goose on the Hill
Decibel 09 review: Crossings by Julie McNamara
Review: D.Vercity European Disability Arts and Culture Festival 2009
Decibel09 review: Jo Bannon pitches Claim to Fame
Decibel09 review: Metallicum by Anya Ustaszewski
Decibel 09 review: The Fish Police
Decibel 09 review: Leadership Lounge
Decibel 09 review: Fight Face by Tin Bath Theatre Company
Decibel 09 review: Day two - the march of the bunnies!
Decibel 09 review: first day of the performing arts showcase in Manchester
Decibel 09 review: No Idea by Lisa Hammond and Rachael Spence
Review: Rachel High and Julie McNamara star in Steak and Chelsea Out to Lunch
Review: Disability Action in Islington's 'Regular Freak Show'
Review: Adam Hills' Inflatable at the Edinburgh Fringe 2009
Review: Russell Jones presents Unleashed
Review: 'Outside In' at Pallant House by Colin Hambrook
Colin Hambrook revels in a show that puts outsider art centre stage in the delightful setting of Pallant House in Chichester. More than 500 artists sent over 800 works in to the show, with 150 selected for display. As the show opened, six prize winners were announced from the displayed entries.
Review: Liz Crow at centre stage on Antony Gormley's Fourth Plinth
Review: Greenwich and Docklands International Festival 2009
Review: Graeae Theatre Company present Against the Tide
Review: Back to Back Theatre present Small Metal Objects
Review: Bobby Baker’s Diary Drawings: Mental Illness and Me 1997-2008
Review: Mind the Gap Theatre Company present Boo
15mm Films: The Way Out
Review: Deafinitely Theatre present Double Sentence
Review: Peter Street: Thumbing from Lipik to Pakrac
Review: Simon Mckeown's digital artwork 'Motion Disabled'
Review: Deaf Arts Network presents Tools of Communication
Review: Living Where the Nights Jive anthology by Disability Arts Cymru
Extant: Effing & Blinding Cabaret
Aaron Williamson: Performance, Video, Collaboration
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Rachel Gadsden: Whispers from the past
Review: High Wyrrd 2008
Paralympic Handover day
Graham Lewis
Art and Power: transformARTive
Dada-South @ DadaFest International 2008
Signdance Collective: Three Films + One
Holton Lee: Light
Esther Appleyard: A Series of Lines
Explore: Disabled and Deaf People engaging with Galleries
Artist Alan Mclean talks about working with Ethnic Advocacy and Apna Women's Group from Walsall.
Nabil Shaban: The First To Go
Robert Softley reviews Nabil Shaban's play about the holocaust
DASh Film Festival 2008
Ju Gosling: Abnormal
Joe McConnell reviews Ju Gosling's recent exhibition culminating from her residency with the National Institute of Medical Research
The Almond and the Seahorse by Kaite O’Reilly
Sara Beer reviews a performance of Kaite O’Reilly's play, on tour in Wales and Manchester
Static by Graeae Theatre Company
Robert Softely reviewed Graeae's touring production in March 2008.
X’08 London's 8th International Disability Film Festival
London Disability Arts Forum's (LDAF) eighth annual film festival took place at BFI Southbank in February 2008. Allan Sutherland concludes that the event reached a wider audience than ever
In Touch with Art: Conference on Art, Museums and Visual Impairment
Liz Porter attends an International Conference on Art, Museums and Visual Impairment held November 2007 at the V&A, London
Laurence Clarke: 12% Evil
Theatre Resource: The Conquest of the South Pole
Djamu: Cornwall Festival of Disability Arts
Liz Carr: It Hasn’t Happened Yet
Liz Carr is taking disability comedy to new boundaries with her latest show
Julie McNamara: Pig Tales
The Studio Project: Intoart
Tim Hayton investigates a project based in South London set up to support artists who have no access to mainstream art education
New Life: Blind In Theatre Festival Croatia 2007
Maria Oshodi reports back on Extant's recent visit to the fifth international Blind in Theatre Festival held in Zagreb in October.
Oska Bright 2007
Colin Hambrook reviews the latest Oska Bright at the Old Market Arts Centre and talks to some of the steering committee.
Liberty Festival 2007
Yinka Shonibare: Adam Reynolds bursary
Christine Finn: Leave Home Stay
Colin Hambrook talks about the impact of Christine Finn's installation 'Leave-Home-Stay'
Edinburgh Fringe 2007
Ryan Knighton: Cockeyed
Arts and Disability Ireland: Face On
Kaite O'Reilly: Beyond Victims and Villains
Danny Start: To Be Continued...
Heavy Load: The Queen Mother's Dead
Envisage Review
Tommy McHugh: The Universe Explodes
Danny Start reviews a Liverpool artist whose creativity came to the fore after having a stroke
Disability Arts Cymru: The Unusual Stage School
Sign Dance Collective: But Beautiful
Melissa Mostyn reviews Sign Dance Collective's latest show But Beautiful and raises some thought-provoking questions.
Paddy Masefield: Strength
Deborah Williams went to a launch of Paddy Masefield's book. She recounts her first impressions of the man, his passion and commitment to disability arts.
Inner Worlds Outside
Peter Campbell: Brown Linoleum Green Lawns
Deborah Williams: oUo maan
Lindsay Carter caught Deborah William's; one-woman show oUo maan at Caedmon Hall, Gateshead
The Disabled Avant-Garde Today!
The Fingersmiths: In Praise of Fallen Women
The Fingersmiths latest production incorporates spoken and projected text with theatricalised British Sign Language. Penny Pepper caught their performance at the Drill Hall, London.
Birds Eye festival
Penny Pepper tells us about the Bird's Eye View Festival of women's film
Review: Ryan Gander: Is this guilt in you too? (Cinema Verso)
Paul Cade: Light Being
Colin Hambrook looks at Paul Cade's Light Beingwithin the context of disability arts.
On The Next Level: Space Between
Liberty Festival 2005
Lynn Manning: Weights
Colin Hambrook saw the new production of Lynn Manning's autobiographical play Weights in Brighton, at the beginning of its UK tour.
Henri Matisse: Drawing with Scissors. Late Works 1950-1954
Mind the Gap: On the Verge
Extant: Resistance
Oska Bright Film Festival 2004
Robert Wyatt: Free Will and Testament
Colin Hambrook wonders why disabled artists of the repute of Robert Wyatt have never joined the fray within the disability arts movement?
Sign Dance Collective showreel
Sign Dance Collective are fast developing a Europe-wide reputation for their imaginative new style of sign dance theatre. Colin reviews their show reel.
Yinka Shonibare: Turner Prize (2004)
Caroline Cardus: The Way Ahead
Xposure 2004: London Festival of Deaf and Disability Arts
The third Xposure Arts Festival, which ran from 1 to 27 November 2004, is one of the largest festivals of disabled artists and performers in the UK.
Liberty Festival 2004
London's Disability Rights Festival, reviewed by Colin Hambrook