'Theatre and Disability' by Ruby Wallace (she/her) and Vivi Alabaster (any)
Ruby
In a 1984 New York Times interview, Arthur Miller said "The theater is so endlessly fascinating because it's so accidental. It's so dependent on the exact people who are in the room at that moment.” And perhaps this fascination comes from how there are so many ways you can find a place in theatre. The magic of theatre, for me, does not just exist on stage, but also in the adueince and in the wings. Theatre can be enjoyed from all angles: the audience, on stage, and backstage. And as a disabled person, I enjoy it in all forms. Each way of experiencing theatre fills me with a different sort of joy.
In the audience, I am transformed into a different world. In that space, I am not seen as Ruby the wheelchair user, Ruby with Tourette’s, Ruby who’s ill. I’m Ruby, the theatre fan and audience member. You sit in that dark theatre, perhaps with some snacks, and you feel. You feel and you experience the emotions portrayed on the stage. My body remains there, but for a few hours, it is not the centre of my experience. In a world where I am so conscious of being perceived negatively and reduced to my disability, there is something so freeing in disappearing into the audience.
On stage, I can become someone else. The words I have highlighted on the script during rehearsals, the costume I put on, the stage I enter all culminate in becoming someone else. People see the act, but not a damaging act. It is not an act where I pretend to be in less pain than I am. It’s an act where I become someone else and act in a way which both trandofmrs me, but also doesn’t mean pretending my disability does not exist. It is an act of transformation, not a necessary concealment. It means enjoyment, not survival. I’ve been a Greek God, a Musketerr, a Lord, a thought in a head. For those scenes, I get to decide how I am perceived.
Backstage I have a level of control which is so unknown to me. My disability does take a lot from free; energy is limited, pain is constant, and my body is unpredictable. However, when I work on a project, the outcome is not decided by my disability. I can create something and there is something magical in seeing that come to life on the stage. From the wings or the tech box, I can see a create vision come to life, one that I helped build. As I now step into a directorial role for my next production, I am excited to see what I can create, beyond my disability.
So, for me as a disabled theatre lover, I see the value of the stage in its ability to transform. Theatre does not make my disability diaspeear. Rather, it gives me the chance to experience something beyond it. Whether I am in the adueince, on stage, or behind the scenes, theatre gives me the power to be more than society’s perception of me.
Vivi
Acting and theatre created a space where I didn't have to pretend to be a version of me to fit in. Instead, I'm able to create a whole new character, and spend more time working on understanding the context of the scene and why a character says or does a certain thing. Being able to focus on responding with a script means I can spend more time and energy focusing on what to do in expression and movement. This helps in my everyday life as I'm able to match these behaviours to certain feelings written down on paper, rather than through ambiguous facial expressions and subtle changes as would be the case in regular interactions. I'm not the only one who has this experience, and acting has opened up doors to a whole network of people in similar situations.
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