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The Acts

CRIPtic Arts

— ,The Pit
Colourful drawings of people swirling against a black background.

A searingly honest, bold, and gripping piece of theatre, bringing together performances from some of the UK’s most exciting disabled theatre makers and companies.

Join us inside the walls of a bustling but dysfunctional theatre, where the acts are hard at work on their latest productions: a solo show about love, joy, and cancer; a comedy about the ways neurodivergent people are expected to sell their stories for the stage; a multisensory meditation on isolation and moon landings; and a dynamic live art show about empowerment and agency. 

In a landscape of intense time pressures, and shoestring budgets, the performers are overstretched and under-supported. Perhaps we need an artistic revolution?

CRIPtic Arts, founded by Artistic Director Jamie Hale, is a disabled-led creative hub bringing the most exciting disabled creatives to UK and international stages.

Tagged with: Theatre & dance Theatre & Dance Autumn/Winter 2024 Young Barbican

Running time: 2 hours (including a 20 minute interval)

Age guidance: 16+

This event contains haze, adult themes, strong language and depictions of cancer. For more information about the content of this production, please visit our content advice and resources page. 

Accessibility
All performances are relaxed and have integrated audio description, BSL-interpretation and captioning. Take a look at our Accessible Events page to find out more about the accessibility of our venues.

Please note that a cast member of The Acts has a severe animal allergy. Due to this, please leave your service or emotional support animal with our front of house team in the Pit Foyer during the show. For more information, please contact a member of box office on 020 7870 2500.

Image by artist Rachel Gadsden
An abstract painting by Rachel Gadsden, showing five figures made of white lines flowing around a stage. From left to right: figure one is an electric wheelchair user underneath a spotlight, mid-movement; figure two stands at the back of the stage with their hands up as if they are signing; figure three is bent double, as if in a bow; figure four, a manual wheelchair user, is mid-movement; and figure five is in a running pose as if moving swiftly offstage. The figures are surrounded by swirling lines of pink, orange, green, blue and yellow, representing their movement & stage lighting. The overall feeling is one of vibrant movement.

Rehearsal photography by Shona Louise.

 

The Acts has been made possible with the support of Arts Council England and the Barbican Centre.

The Acts

Act 1
Stephen Bailey and ASYLUM Arts present the darkly comedic Autistic as Fuck, exploring the complexities and contradictions of neurodivergence, masking, and the ways we’re told we need to tell our stories for them to be seen by non-disabled audiences.

Act 2
Peyvand Sadeghian & Matthew Robinson use immersive projections & material from the NASA archives of the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing, to navigate awe, despair, wellness, and isolation in Over The Moon (working title).

Act 3
A.C. Smith brings To Rose On Her 18th Birthday, a love letter written by a mother to her daughter as she reaches for joy after twice developing cancer, aware her daughter may have inherited the same genetic risk.

 

Act 4 
Rachel Gadsden and Freddie Meyers bring PostHuman, a dynamic live art and sound performance that navigates the audience through a journey of PostHuman ideology, addressing how chronic illness and disability not only presents challenges, but also empowers and authorises agency of the body. 

For more information about the content in this production, please visit our content advice and resources page. 

Creative team

Jamie Hale Director
Caitlin Richards Producer
Jack Wakely Development Producer

Reviews

‘A very entertaining showcase and an inspired evening‘
Theatre Full Stop on CRIPtic Art's 2021 Pit Party

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The Pit

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