UNMUTE
A series of short films by Hack Theatre in which artists, writers and
performers discuss how
they are finding new ways to work and champion marginalised voices after
Covid 19
When the company’s
touring plans were placed on an indefinite hiatus, Hack Theatre decided to look
for different ways to work and to invite artists, writers and performers to join them. They were especially keen
to explore ways for the arts to address issues around inclusivity and allow
them to discuss the inequalities and different experiences highlighted by
global lockdown in a current and post Coronavirus world.
Hack
have created UNMUTE, a series of six
fully captioned films from individual artists. The films aim to kickstart a
conversation to ensure that the arts are as inclusive as possible and adapt to
the ‘new normal’.
Each film gives an engaging glimpse into the diverse experiences
of international artists across different artforms, along with
never-seen-before short adaptation pieces. Each guest artist also offers up
their top tips for creativity in isolation and beyond, sharing their views on
how the arts can adapt, how to digitise but not disenfranchise, and why
including all voices in the new normal shouldn’t just be a ‘check box’
exercise.
As such the films
provide help and advice for both emerging artists and the more experienced, as
well as a fascinating glimpse into issue led creativity for anyone interested in
modern artistic practice.
The films are all
around 30 minutes long. Each consists of a discussion between the artist and
Hack Theatre’s Michelle Sewell, their themed top tips for emerging artists and
a monologue from the featured artist. They will be released on a daily basis
from 20 July, one a day, with each film available to view free at www.hacktheatre.co.uk/unmute from 10am. There will also be an open 30 minute Q&A with the
each artist via https://twitter.com/hack_theatre in the afternoon of the day of release.
See full schedule below. All films will be available to view after launch day
at www.hacktheatre.co.uk
The
contributing artists all make issue-based work and UNMUTE includes themes of race, gender, disability,
sexuality, screen exhaustion, international collaboration and financial
inequality. Equality, diversity and inclusion are at the heart of their work
and the artists explore how these can be central to future arts/cultural
practice and provision. Each
will also share a truthful short adaptation piece that captures this moment and
the need for change.
UNMUTE – artist/film release
schedule:
Monday 20 July (Twitter
Q&A at 3pm)
Afshan
D’Souza-Lodhi is a writer of plays, prose, performance pieces
and passive aggressive tweets, born in Dubai of
Indian/Pakistani parentage and currently based in
Manchester. She also sits on the steering committee for
Northern Police Monitoring Project, an independent campaigning and advocacy
organisation that challenges police harassment and violence. @afshandl
Tuesday 21 July (Twitter
Q&A at 3pm)
Athena
Stevens was born in Chicago with athetoid cerebral palsy and now lives in London.
She is a writer, performer, director and social activist. She is Artistic
Director of Aegis Productions Ltd, writer on attachment at the Finborough
Theatre and Creative Council member and Associate Artist at Shakespeare’s Globe
Theatre. She has made films for Channel 4 and BBC TV. @athenastevens
Wednesday 22 July
(Twitter Q&A at 3pm)
Sean
Wai Keung is a Glasgow based poet and performer of Chinese descent. He has been a
Starter Artist at the National Theatre of Scotland and has performed at events
and festivals including Edinburgh Art Fair, Anatomy Arts at Summerhall and
Rhubaba Art Gallery. His debut poetry pamphlet You are Mistaken won the
Rialto Open Pamphlet Competition 2016 and was named a Poetry School 'book of
the year'. He is currently a poetry editor at EX/POST magazine. @SeanWaiKeung
Thursday 23 July
(Twitter Q&A at 3pm)
Koko
Brown is a London born spoken word artist,
theatre-maker and producer, who uses her vocal loop station as an additional
limb. She creates work about being ‘the other', focusing on race, mental
health, gender, and identity. One of the Evening Standard’s
‘Seven new playwrights to look out for in 2019’ she has performed at the National Theatre,
Ovalhouse, and
Soho Theatre, as
well as at Glastonbury
and Latitude
Festivals. @theKokoBrown
Friday 24 July
(Twitter Q&A at 12noon)
James
Colley is a comedian who lives in his native
Australian where he has written extensively for TV and radio. He also
contributes to the Guardian, The Big Issue and Frankie magazine. @JamColley
Saturday 25 July
(Twitter Q&A at 4pm)
Christina Murdock originally hails from San Francisco and is currently based
in London. Her younger
sister has atypical Rett syndrome, speech apraxia and severe epilepsy all of
which led her to became a passionate
advocate for the issues of disability, care-giving, anti-racism,
accessibility, and inclusion. An award-winning playwright,
actor, and opera singer who has been featured in The Guardian, BBC Arts,
BBC World Update, and London's Evening Standard for her play Dangerous Giant Animals about growing
up with her sister. @murdockmusings
Michelle Sewell said ‘I’m
really humbled to have had such insightful conversations with such talented
artists for UNMUTE, who bring such
unique voices
to these important issues that so many different communities are facing right
now. I have had to think really creatively about how to have an inspiring
discussion from my bedroom/meeting room/writing room. They have all been
wonderful to work with and I’m very proud of the films we have created together.
We hope the films will capture what is happening right now and inspire others
to keep adapting, championing, and calling it out wherever they feel they can.’
As a companion
piece to the UNMUTE films, Hack are
also creating a new adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion. Eliza tells the story from the flower
seller’s point of view as a woman with Down Syndrome. It is written by Michelle
Sewell and expresses
the rarely discussed topic of the sexuality of women with disabilities. Eliza is performed by Sarah Gordy MBE, an actor with Down Syndrome and best known for her TV roles
as Katie in The A Word, Orlando Quine in Strike and Lady Pamela Holland in the most
recent BBC TV version of Upstairs Downstairs, as well as many theatre roles including Ben
Weatherill’s Jellyfish. More information
about Eliza will be released soon.
Michelle Sewell,
is a witty eloquent and erudite interviewee and most of the individual artists
are also available for interviews. Contact Steve Forster as above for
availabilities and images. Images can also be downloaded from www.sfppr.co.uk/downloads
UNMUTE
by Hack Theatre
A
series of six fully accessible films from individual international guest artists
based around themes of equality, diversity and inclusion.
The films will be launched
one each day from 20 – 25 July at 10am via www.hacktheatre.co.uk/unmute.
There will also be a Q&A with the featured artist on the afternoon of their
films launch day at https://twitter.com/hack_theatre
After launch all
films will be available to view at www.hacktheatre.co.uk where fully transcribed podcasts of the films will also be available.
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