68 An Interview with Jenny Sealey Jacob Allen-Roe CEO and Artistic Director of Graeae since 1997, co-director of the 2012 Paralympics, MBE, OBE, and theatrical pioneer, it is needless to say that Jenny Sealey is an inspiration and revolutionary in making theatre accessible. It was an honour to get the chance to interview Sealey and get her perspective of accessibility in the industry and education. When asked about Graeae, Sealey said: …it’s the most amazing company to work for because its central mission is absolutely about breaking down the barriers that prevent deaf, disabled, and neurodivergent people from accessing the world of theatre, as audiences, as artists and, you know, that’s backstage, front stage, writers, directors, actors, designers, lighting designers, everything. And it’s about our right. It’s actually in the Declaration of Human Rights that we all have a right to a cultural life and equality. So, it’s very much a company founded on social justice. Being one of the UK’s first disabled-led theatre companies, and with an international reputation, Graeae has had a clear impact on pioneering accessible theatre, paving the way for companies like Hijinx, CRIPtic, and Deafinitely to thrive today. Their mission for social justice has had a substantial history for defying societal expectations with Petra Kuppers reflecting on the progression of different approaches to audience acceptance of disabled performers. Kuppers notes that Graeae co-founder Richard Tomlinson’s idea of a passive audience being easier to will acceptance of disabled actors, differs from Sealey’s twenty years later, remarking: “In 2002, Graeae director Jenny Sealey writes in a slightly different way about how she would like to re-train audiences, honing in on the issues of casting choice and ‘theatrical quality’, ongoing issues in the mainstream world of theatre” (2017:18): After my production of The Changeling, I was asked “Why did you not have all good actors in The Changeling?” ...I was aware of the imbalance of skills when I was casting, but I knew the potential of all my performers. The rehearsal process had been so extraordinary with two blind actors, one deaf, two wheelchair users, one mobility impaired and a sign language interpreter/actor. For me the imbalance was about an audience not being able to see the subtle nature of a huge exercise in artistic and practical access. (Sealey 2002, quoted in Conroy 2009: 7) Sealey’s less subtle approach to make the audience think progressed ten years
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