People with learning disabilities are one of the more marginalised groups of disabled people, but perceptions and prejudices may at last be changing with a growing number of professional theatre companies. Richard Hayhow talks to Suzanne Pattinson and raises some of the issues in working with such groups.
Actors with learning disabilities present a problem for many of us. We have very little understanding of what a learning disability might be and how a person’s personality and behaviour might be affected by it. Unlike most people with a physical disability, many people with a learning disability show no visible signs that they have any disability. It’s almost too complex to understand and one of the important things that I’ve learnt is that you have to ignore the label. The actors may well have a learning disability but I don’t feel I need to know any more than that.
I have been running the Shysters since 1997 as part of the Open Theatre Company, based at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry. The Shysters grew out of drama work with people with learning disabilities originally set up by the Belgrade. Several members of the group wanted to become ‘proper’ actors and so the Shysters Theatre Company was formed, and we now have nine actors who for the first time will be paid a weekly ‘permitted’ wage whilst we are on tour this year. None of the actors have had any formal training in the performing arts as there are as yet no courses they can access (although Rose Bruford College is working with Razor’s Edge in London to start one next year). We therefore do all the training ourselves and some of our actors have now gained enough experience and confidence to be able to lead some of our workshops.
Integration or isolation
One of the issues that any group of disabled actors faces is whether to integrate: do they collaborate with non-disabled actors or do they perform in ‘isolation’? The two processes are quite different. Working in isolation allows people with learning disabilities to develop their work at their own pace. They benefit from a long, careful development process usually with fewer time pressures and a relative lack of formality. It’s still a challenging and intensive experience, but a contrast to working with non-disabled actors. Here, time is stricter, the atmosphere and structure of the day more formal and some actors with learning disabilities can find it overwhelming at first – the non-disabled actors can dominate the process, the pace is faster and communication more complex. But my feelings are that our actors need both; they need the challenges that integration and isolation offer, and although I don’t organise a schedule for the Shysters that alternates one neatly with the other, we find ourselves mixing the two up in the course of any one year.
Likewise with our education and outreach work, we aim to visit both special and mainstream schools, sometimes working with other groups of disabled actors, sometimes by ourselves. We negotiate projects in advance and plan to work over a long period building up good relationships with the staff and students. We never take in a package as such, because we prefer to work out together what we want to achieve and how we’ll do that. It has worked and we’ve built up several excellent relationships throughout the country.
Support network
One aspect of working with a group of actors with learning disabilities that I probably didn’t anticipate is how well I have got to know parents and carers! The support network behind each member of the group plays an immense part in the day-to-day business of running a theatre company. If we need to hold extra rehearsals we can’t just announce some dates, but in some instances, we need to call parents and make arrangements. While some parents are very supportive and flexible, others are less so, and some actors are more independent than others and more able to make arrangements themselves. With such a mix it can be frustrating and relations are not always as positive as you’d like. Welfare benefits are another issue we have to be aware of. If we pay our actors an equity rate they risk losing Income Support, Housing Benefit and other allowances in the long-term, but by paying them a ‘permitted’ weekly wage they keep their full entitlement.
Question of quality
So how good can a company of learning disabled actors be? There is unfortunately a perception that the work of actors with learning disabilities is very worthy but the quality just isn’t there. Misconceptions and prejudices abound: the work isn’t challenging, there’s a general dumbing down, and many in the industry are wary of working alongside actors with learning disabilities. That’s history! First of all, this kind of work is relatively new and the least developed of all the work by disabled people, but I invite anyone who thinks our standards may be a compromise to come and see a Shysters production. We aim to be as creative, inspiring and challenging as any other theatre company, and draw some of our inspiration from innovative and exciting international companies that have performed at the Belgrade. And second, as for not choosing to work with a group of actors with learning disabilities, attitudes certainly need to change and people may need to rethink and adapt what they do. But isn’t that a challenge they should be willing to take on?
Richard Hayhow is Artistic Director of the Open Theatre Company and Shysters Theatre Company. t: 01905 620631;
e: otchilltop@msn.com