FlawBored on It’s A Motherf**king Pleasure
Disability-led theatre firm FlawBored actually aren’t afraid of an announcement present title are they! It actually makes you sit up and take discover. So a lot in order that we couldn’t resist grabbing a while with firm co-founders Samuel Brewer, Chloe Palmer and Aarian Mehrabani to ask them extra about that title, and extra importantly, about how properly we’re doing in terms of making theatre extra entry pleasant.
We can’t not begin by saying it’s a mom**king pleasure to satisfy you all, lets do introductions?
it’s a motherf**king pleasure to satisfy you!
We’re FlawBored – Samuel Brewer, Chloe Palmer and Aarian Mehrabani – and we’re the writers and performers of It’s a MotherF**king Pleasure.
And what’s the present about then?
The present is an irreverent, darkish comedy that pokes enjoyable on the knots we tie ourselves into making an attempt to do “the right thing” in terms of entry.
Blind expertise supervisor Tim desperately tries to make incapacity the subsequent cultural cachet and he thinks he may need simply hit the jackpot with blind influencer Ross; a satire of the monetisation of identification politics.
It is kind of the title, did you by no means fear about utilizing an expletive in any respect and the way it may have an effect on how folks would discuss in regards to the present?
F*** no. People have actually responded to the title and it’s a mirrored image of the irreverent nature of the present. For some purpose… i’m undecided why…. apparently folks like seeing the phrase motherf**king… Maybe it’s an Oedipus factor.
With two of the co-founders of FlawBored being Vision Impaired, have you ever tapped into your expertise while making the present?
Sam: I believe it’s laborious to say our expertise, as a result of I don’t suppose this can be a present about our private lived expertise, there’s nonetheless experiences in a political sense however it’s positively not a present that faucets into our personal trauma. We take the piss out of liberal identification politics which are particular person focussed and never serious about systemic change.
Aarian: It’s clearly going to play an element, as would Chloe’s identification as a lady, my identification as Iranian, Sam’s identification as an asshole. It’s laborious to separate the work from the person.
There’s expectancy that artwork must be about a problem, or an individual’s lived expertise. We did proceed to have conversations about our experiences of ableism, some knowledgeable elements of the writing course of however we by no means got down to make a present solely primarily based on that.
You’re a disabled-led theatre firm, so while the present focuses on entry for blind, are you tackling extra than simply the difficulties for these with visible impairments?
Yes, we needed to attract consideration to folks like Chloe who’ve bizarre stomach buttons so we’re forcing audiences to get crappy stomach button piercings in solidarity all through the present…
But with regard to entry… Whilst growing the present, we realised it’s extremely troublesome to make a present that’s accessible for everyone. Indeed, somewhat naively we got down to rise to the problem and shortly failed. The idea of a totally accessible present for each member of the viewers is extraordinarily troublesome. The solely method you are able to do that’s if you happen to ask for particular person particular entry wants, and that’s everybody, not simply disabled folks. So by advantage of making an attempt to make a present totally accessible in that sense, you’ll typically end up tied in knots; one individual’s entry wants may fully contradict others. One individual may want shiny mild to concentrate on a present while one other may want the lights dimmer.
We’ve put these ‘access loopholes’ entrance and centre of It’s a Motherf**king Pleasure. That being stated the present is audio described and captioned.
How troublesome is it for disabled theatre makers nonetheless? What hurdles have you ever needed to get over to even start to place a present on?
SAM: One of the explanation’s why FlawBored exists is as a result of Aarian and I’ve at all times been handled as disabled actors and disabled theatre makers in non-disabled areas. We need to show ourselves to indicate that we’re competent. Intellectually all of us wish to suppose that we have now a sure degree of ‘wokeness’ however in practicality all of us have unconscious biases. People are sometimes scared or uncomfortable to work with us.
One of the massive objectives for us was making a shared house for disabled and non-disabled performers and creatives so folks aren’t scared to work with us. Access is straightforward if you happen to care.
Whilst theatres are doing so much to sort out entry points, do you are feeling that they may do extra? And is it equally as troublesome for creatives and audiences alike – clearly we solely see it from the viewers aspect of issues?
There’s a giant shift within the trade taking place for the time being the place theatre is being made accessible for audiences, by captioning, audio description and relaxed performances, ticketing schemes. Which is nice. However, as a rule, theatres are participating disabled, D/deaf and Neurodivergent performers with out correct entry provisions and help. Ie. Programming disabled artists however not having satisfactory wheelchair accessible amenities. This was highlighted lately by Jamie Hale (of CRIPtic)’s expertise. You can learn their assertion right here.
I believe it’s additionally essential ro do not forget that simply because you have got one BSL interpreted present out of a two week run or a matinee efficiency audio describes – hey that’s nice, but additionally keep in mind, don’t give your self a spherical of applause, there’s much more that must be executed. Keep going.
What could be the very first thing you’d change then if you got the alternative?
Sam: Human accelerated local weather change.
We’d like to see theatres participating and embracing a wider spectrum of entry wants as at the moment we really feel some are being priristised over others by their perceived ‘easiness’. Again, don’t simply do one accessible present, additionally cease saying a present is totally accessible, you don’t know what meaning. Fully accessible implies that you just perceive the wants of each single individual in that room, except you’re MI5 and have entry to each individual’s medical historical past and background you’re not going to know. Stop pretending and be clear. Or you’ll be able to rent myself or Aarian to come back in and provide you with three days of entry coaching for the small value of solely £300 per day, it’s a cut price belief me, and we are able to do mates charges. Just be clear about what you’re doing by way of your entry so folks know in case your present or work is for them.
Judging by your present publicity, The Vaults isn’t completely accessible for audiences, and we are able to think about it may well’t be the simplest of locations to do plenty of work, so how good are they doing and have they tried additional laborious for you?
Sam: Yeah they’ve been nice, Firstly, any house you go into as a disabled individual in a predominately non-disabled house (which is just about all of them, and sure that’s not hyperbole) goes to be troublesome. There are issues that received’t be thought of as a result of folks don’t know. I believe Vaults is making an attempt to talk to their FOH workers who at all times appear to need to be taught and are actually engaged, however like all human being they haven’t met each one that exists on the planet they usually can’t predict the small issues I or Aarian or Chloe may want for themselves individually. What they’re doing which is cool is encouraging non-disabled led work to have accessible performances, be it certainly one of their reveals being audio-described or one of many performances being captioned.
THAT BEING SAID, it’s essential to notice that there’s disabled led work on which is doing this their entire slot (present’s like Surfacing by Asylum Arts and our personal) and we don’t must be inspired. We know we’ve gotta do it, as a result of if we received’t nobody else will.
Massive because of Sam, Chloe and Aarian for taking trip of rehearsals to speak about their present and giving us an perception into why we nonetheless have some strategy to go along with making certain entry.
It’s A Motherf**king Pleasure performs as a part of VAULT Festival 2023 from 21 – 26 Febraury. Further informatiom and bookings could be discovered right here.