A famous playwright once said, “all the world‘s a stage”.

An Edinburgh-based theatre company at the ‘cutting edge’ of disability provision is working to ensure this is the reality for everyone.

healthandcare.scot has been speaking with founder and artistic director of Cutting Edge Theatre about the importance of equal access to performing arts as audience members, artists and participants.

Suzanne Lofthus began Cutting Edge Theatre in 1995 to “make a difference”.

More than two decades on, with four dedicated streams now giving disabled adults and children across Scotland a chance to get involved in performing arts, the Edinburgh-based theatre company is well on its way to achieving that mission.

However, Ms Lofthus tells healthandcare.scot that disabled people still face issues in accessing the arts:

“I began to do a bit of research in Scotland and I discovered that were was very little provision and big gaps in what there was available. So we started up INSPIRE, which is all about increasing confidence, self esteem and improving communication.”

INSPIRE Fife is the theatre’s flagship project, set up in 2012, which gives disabled adults a chance to get involved in drama, create together, go on theatre trips and produce their own shows.

 

Scotland still has no formal drama provision for disabled people

INSPIRE student and young Fifer Abigail Brydon plays a leading role in the play ‘Downs with Love’, which has toured twice across the UK and was even showcased at the world Down’s Syndrome Congress.

The play, which was written and directed by Ms Lofthus, explores the complexity around love and disability and incorporates some of Abigail’s real-life experiences.

But the success of the production and the talent of the ambitious lead actor has further amplified the lack of opportunities for disabled actors in Scotland to formally progress in a performing arts career:

“We asked Abigail: “What’s your dream?” And it was to be an actor. Well, why can’t she be an actor? There’s courses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland but not in Scotland. So that opened up a massive gap for us.”

Ms Lofthus says she and the team spent lockdown creating a ‘ladder strategy’ to explore how Scotland can better provide routes into performing arts for young disabled people.

And this has since created a domino effect, backed by funding from Creative Scotland and the Scottish Power Foundation, which has seen Cutting Edge Theatre expand significantly over the last three years:

“We have been able to test this strategy and have set up a pilot project for a young company of learning-disabled people aged 18 to 25 – which we find is the biggest gap as, when children leave school, it’s a cliff edge and there’s nothing for them.”

The Young Company training programme gives stars-in-the-making the chance to learn skills in acting, movement, music, singing and acting to prepare them for being in front of the camera.

Cutting Edge has also since established a youth theatre for learning disabled young people aged 13-17, and several online and in-person drop-in classes for both children and adults which are completely free to attend.

Testimonials from participants and their parents and carers sing of the benefits of the projects:

"It's his favourite day of the week, he always wants to come. I can see that here he is given the time he needs to communicate," said one parent of a youth theatre participant.

Another emphasised the accessibility of the drop-in groups, and the engaged and “exceptional” tutors and staff: “the laughter and fun emanating from the hall are a testament to their success”.

 

A look to the future

But for Abi and other potential future stars, there’s still no formalised drama training.

Ms Lofthus says that scoping work continues to see how this can be made into reality in Scotland:

“We put a call out to other organisations and people working in this area, and about 40 came

forward to take part in a Creative Scotland funded research project which confirmed what we knew:

that there is very little provision and no formalised drama training. There’s still a lot to be done.”

Ms Lofthus says next steps will likely involve a visit south of the border to explore what’s working well in England and Wales.

Potential plans include satellite training so people in more rural and remote areas of Scotland can also take part in-person.

Ms Lofthus says if done right, this important development work could change the face of performing arts and accessibility across Scotland – but it won’t be easy:

“People are quite receptive to it, for sure. It's a great project, and it's culturally changing Scotland. If we can embed this then it will change access all over Scotland.

“So it's really important – and it doesn’t have to be us – that there’s a model for all the people working in this space to pick and choose from. The aim is that we should be able to start seeing groups popping up in different places.”

 

To find out more about Cutting Edge Theatre or about enrolling in the INSPIRE programme, please visit https://cuttingedgetheatre.co.uk/inspire/

 

Read more: Dancing across the gap between health and art; Music’s potential to help with dementia; Lack of structure holding back social prescribing; Alternative pathway inquiry reveals obstacles

 

 

Sign up to our bulletin for key health & social care updates straight to your inbox and you can follow healthandcare.scot on Google News.