Graeae's story continues...
Graeae’s first Theatre in Education (T.I.E) show, Endless Variety Show, written by Chris Speyer, tours the UK. Graeae participates in the first Day of Disabled Artists in Covent Garden. Graeae launches Patsy Rodenburg’s Not Much to Ask, an adaptation of Charlotte Bronte’s “Villette”. The show went on to tour the UK with Arts Council of Great Britain funding. Finally, a team of ten company members took a new production of Casting Out written and directed by Nigel Jamieson on a tour of India.
January-March:
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M3 J4 tour continues.
April-August:
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Endless Variety Show, Graeae’s first Theatre in Education (T.I.E.) production and first youth tour. The tour is funded by the Arts Council of Great Britain (ACGB).
August:
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Graeae participates in the first Day of Disabled Artists in Covent Garden. Graeae also moves to the Diorama in Regents Park around this time.
August-December:
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Not Much to Ask U.K. tour premieres at Projectability Fest in Glasgow. The tour is ACGB funded.
Not Much to Ask in Graeae’s words: “Graeae here offers an exciting and challenging interpretation of a fascinating Victorian novel. ‘Villette‘ is Charlotte Brontë’s masterpiece and in this new work the complexities of the author, her plot and language are explored and developed by writer Patsy Rodenburg. Journeying through a past, present and future world, the narrative lends itself to three distinct styles of interpretation – Victorian, Modern and Surreal – styles which are reflected in the design, sound score, physical and verbal language.”
Not Much to Ask in reviewer’s words: “…the company is still going, and growing, and changing is something of a miracle. And if one of the two wheelchairs gliding across the doll-sized stage had not been draped in a crinoline in Not Much to Ask, I for one, could easily have forgotten it was there at all.” -Helen Mason, The Times, 18 November 1983.
20 November- 9 December:
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Casting Out tour in India: The tour was planned throughout 1983 and included four weeks of rehearsal. Funders included British Council, Chase Charity, Sir Richard Attenborough, and donations. The tour included a cast of Nabil Shaban, Elly Wilkie, Jag Plah, Jim Gibbins, and Frankie Armstrong. The tour involved three main stops, Calcutta, Bombay, and Delhi.
Graeae’s words: “It is a powerful piece of theatre drawing on personal experiences of the company whose very choice of profession challenges so many of our assumptions about people with disabilities.”
Reviewer’s words: -“There was not a moment of monotony or sentimentality, but much humor.” -Staff Reporter, Indian Express, 24th November 1983.
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