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March 2021: Not left behind: exploring the dynamics of collaboration between a learning disabled and non-disabled artist

Year                Show                Further information
2014:             Soldiering On    http://disabilityartsonline.org.uk/oska-bright-film-festival-2015-day-one

http://disabilityartsonline.org.uk/channel4-does-it-matter-world-war-1-shorts

Trickster            https://www.mind-the-gap.org.uk/productions/trickster-2014/

Gift                    https://www.mind-the-gap.org.uk/productions/gift-2014/

2012:              Immovable       https://www.mind-the-gap.org.uk/productions/immovable/

2010:              Irresistible        https://www.mind-the-gap.org.uk/productions/irresistible/

2004:              On the Verge    https://www.disabilityartsonline.org.uk/mind-the-gap

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Boal, A. (1992) Games for actors and non-actors. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 99-100

Boal, A. (1998) Legislative Theatre, using performance to make politics. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 3-5.

Colborne, J. et al. Soldiering On. (2014) Available at: https://vimeo.com/98934920 (Accessed 12th February 2021).

Disability Arts Online. Oska Bright film festival. Available at: http://disabilityartsonline.org.uk/
oska-bright-film-festival-2015-day-one (Accessed: 27th February 2021)

Disability Arts Online. Picture this... film festival. Available at: http://disabilityartsonline.org.uk/
channel4-does-it-matter-world-war-1-shorts (Accessed: 27th February 2021)

Hargrave, Matt (2015) Theatres of Learning Disability, Good, Bad, or Plain Ugly? London and New York: Palgrave Macmillan

Watershed (2015) Push Me Please. Available at: http://www.pushmeplease.co.uk/artists/jez-colborne/ (Accessed:12th February 2021).

Wheeler, T. (2018) ‘Mind the Gap(s)’ in Butterworth, J. (ed.) Opening Doors to the Performing Arts: Difference and Diversity, Bonavia Offset Printers, Malta, pp. 61-76.

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Context

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JEZ COLBORNE - Composer, Musician + Performer | PUSH ME | Watershed

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This practice as research project represents one output from a long-term examination of collaborative devising dynamics between learning-disabled and non-disabled artists. Soldiering On (2014), the example outlined here, is a short film made by Jez Colborne and Tim Wheeler for Channel 4, 4OD. While the final 3-minute broadcast-quality film was completed within five days, on minimal resources, Soldiering On was the culmination of a devising process, developed over ten years with Colborne and the artistic team, which focused on Colborne's agency as a collaborating artist.

Throughout his work with Mind the Gap (MtG), Wheeler sought to examine the power dynamics which can lead to overly directive work or a 'cul de sac of facilitation' that often leaves the individual learning-disabled artist behind. Fearing manipulation, 'inclusive' arts practice can unwittingly infantilise and thus relegate the learning-disabled practitioner to a supposed 'natural' state, a participant practised upon, rather than a collaborator with equitable agency. How do we chart a new path through a territory which includes therapeutic practice, participatory or socio-political rights-based work? Is there a way that regards the learning-disabled person as an artist with a distinct aesthetic practice, not as a client, participant or activist? How can the non-learning-disabled artist change this dynamic?

Wheeler developed a dialogical art-making practice drawing on Augusto Boal's techniques developed in Theatre of the Oppressed. Boal and Wheeler worked with MtG's acting company on several occasions in the 1990s. They explored ways of fostering genuine dialogue about how learning-disabled people can recognise, challenge and transform socially constructed discrimination Boal (1998, p.3-5). Wheeler further refined Boal's approach, identifying power-sharing strategies which counter the familiar power-less/power-over dichotomy of the oppressed/oppressor relationship.

Wheeler's continuing exploration of these findings is illustrated by the published version of his 'Mind the Gap(s)' talk delivered to a diverse, international audience in 2017.

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Gaps

Wheeler's work with Mind the Gap highlights the benefits and problems of creative and academic gaps. These gaps were further explored in a presentation at the Difference and Diversity symposium convened by Professor Jo Butterworth and the Opening Doors Association in Malta, November 2017. The published chapter is included here. The presentation to a group of academics and learning-disabled artists was structured to include both audiences, as was the subsequent chapter in the publication Wheeler (2018). How can we exchange knowledge when one set of participants is objectified then excluded from the debate?

Reliance on written and spoken communication is not always possible or reliable, and new modes of ensuring dialogue needed to be developed. This was a critical step in developing the empathetic ability to imagine oneself into the artist's world and identify what needs to change to enable this to happen.

Different lenses – In almost all cultures learning disabled people are viewed negatively, often seen as outsiders, or fools, incapable of learning or burdens. By understanding these viewpoints, the aim is to work with Colborne and others to help construct more accurate representations, both culturally and socially.

Multiple modalities – Colborne is proficient in creating music. While he does not read music notation, he can play by ear. He is also able to hybridise melodies and styles. Understanding how this is done was key to developing a deeper understanding of his musical intelligence, the role of rhythm, tone, style, variation in his auditory conception of the world. How can one engage in a musical dialogue, a movement dialogue, a visual dialogue using a musical, movement and visual vocabulary? What is lost, and what can be found in the translation between modalities?

Agency, power and control – This was a mature devising team who had worked with each other for over ten years. Each was bringing many years of experience in performing arts making in many contexts. There had been a conscious, by then tacit agreement that Colborne lead everything. He could ask for and accept ideas; the team could argue their case but would defer to Colborne in the end. Thus, the non-disabled artist could function alongside the learning-disabled artist with equity rather than facilitative or directive capacity.

Inclusive practice seemingly favours quantity over quality, large casts and egalitarian processes, over depth of engagement and singular vision. Many of our most distinctive learning-disabled artists will be left behind. How do we deepen dialogue and practice? How can other learning disabled and non-disabled artists replicate and extend this process?

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Image Theatre creates material from sculptural images made by the actor and their body in the rehearsal room.

On one occasion in Bradford, Wheeler taught Boal a simple counting game that involved a repeated count up to 3 in pairs. One-by-one, the numbers are replaced by gestures, sounds, then words, and so on. The pairs become characters exploring the action, changing time, location, style, emotion and intention. Boal included the game in Games for Actors and Non-actors, entitling it ‘Two by three by Bradford’ (1992 pp.99-100). Wheeler has since developed this and other games, exercises, and techniques to devise and adapt strategies to help construct meaning.

Boal’s methodology and discussion about disability aesthetics were refined, adapted and codified during Wheeler's engagement as co-supervisor on an AHRC collaborative PhD that explored theatre and learning disability aesthetics, Hargrave (2015).

This learning-disabled aesthetic was at the core of Soldiering On. Wheeler took a dramaturgical role, researching material with Colborne and discussing the idea of disabled people being left behind. He re-assembled the skilled team of artists and technicians, including Olivier award-winning writer Mike Kenny, filmmaker Will Simpson, and music producer Si McGrath. He negotiated access to film archive material with the Imperial War Museum. The team held a day-long exploration of the theme, establishing ‘Colborne’ as an accompanist in a pre-war cinema. Colborne and Wheeler spent a day reviewing archive footage, contacting the local army recruitment office, developing the story and melody. At one point, Wheeler asked Colborne to 'play war', and he created the gunfire barrage sound on the piano, which segments the piece. Colborne suggested taking the front cover off the piano to expose the hammers, which resembled hammer triggers. In the rehearsal room, Kenny sat next to Colborne, quizzing him about his passion for uniform, his love of talking with strangers, the denied rite of passage into adulthood, his over-optimism, and wanting to fit-in.

Kenny:        What do you like about the army?

Colborne:   The clothes.

Kenny:        What else?

Colborne:   The camaraderie.

Kenny:        What rhymes with camaraderie?

Colborne:   I don’t know!

LATER, WHILE LOOKING AT FILM OF MEN IN AN ARMY BAND

Colborne:   That uniform would look good on me.
Hey Mike, that rhymes!

Colborne and Kenny crafted his words into a simple verse structure. Many parallel meanings surfaced in the lyrics, reflecting Colborne's views and values, his feelings about authority. His characterisation of the sergeant-major was based on a lunchtime game Colborne played with fellow artist Chris Steel, taking it in turns to drill each other, marching around the social spaces at Mind the Gap.

A short movie, PUSH ME for 90 seconds: Irresistible, commissioned by Watershed in 2015, provides a contextual glimpse into Colborne’s creative thought process.

In 2015 Soldiering On won 'Best Production' in the Oska Bright film festival, Brighton UK and 'Best Performance Under 10 Minutes' award at the international Picture this… film festival, Calgary, Canada.

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Soldiering On was commissioned by Channel 4, 4OD as part of Does It Matter? World War 1 shorts which took inspiration from Siegfried Sassoon's 1917 poem Does it Matter? The commission, open to disabled artists, offered an opportunity to create an unorthodox take on war and disability legacies in contemporary Britain.

Colborne, one of several learning-disabled artists working with MtG, is an actor, singer, musician and composer with William's syndrome. This genetic condition brings some striking verbal abilities, perfect pitch and a particular affinity for music.  Research with Colborne explored the space between learning disabled and non-disabled practitioners rather than Colborne as a research object.

The film constructs a version of ‘Colborne’ based on his musical abilities and obsession with militaria, fascination with the costumes, pomp and ceremony surrounding war compared to its brutal reality.

Shown

Unlimited Festival 2014, Clore Ballroom in the Royal Festival Hall, London, 2 September 2014

Oska Bright Film Festival 2015, Corn Exchange, Brighton, 23rd November 2015

14th Annual Picture this…film festival, Calgary Scope, Canada, 6th to 18th March 2015

https://vimeo.com/98934920

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Music video made with Jez Colborne and Mind the Gap for Channel 4.
Won the award for Best Production at Oska Bright film festival.

Composed and performed by
Jez Colborne

Director
Tim Wheeler

Filmmaker
William Simpson

Collaborating artists
Mike Kenny and Si McGrath