Theatre and disability

Theatre and disability is a subject focusing on the inclusion of disability within a theatrical experience, enabling cultural and aesthetic diversity in the arts. Showing disabled bodies on stage can be to some extent understood as a political aesthetic as it challenges the predominately abled audience's expectations as well as traditional theatre conventions. However, the performance of disabilities on stage has raised polarising debates about whether the performers are exposed and reduced to their disability or whether they have full agency of who they are and what they represent.

History

Disability theatre formally arose out of the disability arts and culture movement in the 1980s in the United States and the United Kingdom. There were, however, some disability-focused theatre companies predating this movement, including the National Theatre of the Deaf, founded in 1967. Notable early disability theatre companies include Graeae Theatre Company (1980 – UK), Theatre Terrific (1985 - Canada), Back to Back Theatre (1988 - Australia) and Phamaly Theatre Company (founded in 1989).

There were some disabled actors such as Esmond Knight (UK, 4 May, 1906 – 23 February, 1987) and Lionel Barrymore (US, April 28, 1878 – November 15, 1954) already working at the top of their profession, often playing both disabled and non-disabled characters, but thew were able to access opportunity because of privileged circumstances as well as talent. Most opportunity, of which there was very little, came through stage comedy or traditions such as pantomime.

Political change

Change does not happen easily and the campaign for political change within society, Nothing About Us Without Us, is as relevant in theatre as it has been in TV, Film, Politics and Design. Campaigns from Disability Rights UK, Disability Arts Alliance, UK Disability Artists Alliance, Disability Artists Community Network (DANC) and others have campaigned for the creative arts to simply be more open to new ideas when it comes to disability. From a creative standpoint they focus on two basic premises that disabled actors and creatives should be the first choice for telling stories about disability, and that disability should not be an unconscious bias barrier to accessing any role in any play.

Disabled mimicry, erasure and absence has no place in the arts. To bring about its end is an industry wide task - inciting best practice guidelines and multi-disciplinary non-hierarchical collaboration…. These casting decisions, and their detrimental effect, have long since been condemned. Disabled artists have been campaigning for 50 years, incrementally growing from the generations before. The work done by our predecessors has allowed this conversation to become mainstream. But as our collective voice grows, it becomes harder to ignore. Excerpt from a public statement by Disabled Artists Alliance in 2024.

This campaigning has become more publicly visible especially in the UK with mainstream news vendors such as The Guardian, The Economist, the BBC, PBS News, HuffPost and The Stage have published articles on the historic exclusion of visible disability both from stage and screens, as well as the need for change from within the industry.

Disability as a creative opportunity

The role of an actor is to present interesting choices to the director, and the lived experience of someone with a disability is always an interesting creative choice. For every visible disability there is always a backstory and that adds subtext to any role whether it is written as disabled or not. Shifting attitudes in the industry from seeing disability as a diversity box to be ticked to a creative opportunity is a slow and ongoing process, however as a deeper understanding of unconscious biases towards disability is gaining traction, and more directors are understanding that disability presents creative possibilities beyond telling stories about disability.

Casting without disability bias

"How does a character in the script enter the stage?"

This is a question regularly used to analyse unconsciously biased or ableist decisions and attitudes in any casting process. The issue that it raises is why if it is not stated how someone enters the stage, is there a presumption that they walked? This is a similar thought process behind what is often termed as colour-blind casting, where the presumption is removed from every character in a script that they are white.

Roughly 1 in 12 people in the world has a physical disability, so if there were no biases 1 in 12 characters we see on stage would have a visible disability regardless of whether the script says they do or not. In reality virtually no mainstream productions of a play that isn't in some way about disability have ever reached that ratio. Having said that theatre companies such as the Royal Shakespeare Company and Shakespeare's Globe Theatre have put in place casting and diversity policies that are moving in the right direction.

Casting disabled actors as a process has two creative lenses to consider:

1. Disability and incidental portrayal. Despite most characters in most plays being able to be played by disabled actors, with a very few exceptions, disabled actors are rarely given the opportunity to portray them. There is an unconscious willingness to not allow disabled actors tell anything other than stories about disability. If this was applied to any other diversity group this would be met with outrage, and yet disability is decades behind the equality curve in this respect. A question that can be used at the start of the process when looking at each character in isolation is, "why can't a disabled actor be cast in this role?" If you can't find a very good reason then follow it up with, "what would disability bring to this role?" This will give the director and even the marketeers an opportunity to think about how disability could add a dimensions not otherwise considered. Audiences can find disability challenging, but they are never board by it, which is why so many disability stories win TV, theatre and film awards.
2. Disability and authentic portrayal. There is an argument in the acting profession that any actor should be allowed to play any role, and there is a good point about anti-literalism, however like all ideas there are issues and caveats. This argument was made by an Artistic Director when she cast herself in the role of Richard III in 2024. This works if every actor has equal opportunity to every role and that there is unconscious bias in the industry. The backlash from over 300 professional actors, theatre professionals and theatre companies, who collectively called themselves the Disabled Artist's Alliance as well as the actors' union Equity highlighted that without equal opportunity in the industry this was a highly privileged perspective. The argument was broken down by London theatre blogger Micky Jo. This situation raised interesting issues not only about prejudice across the industry, but also about the rights of disabled actors to bring their lived experiences to the creative processes, to have the right to tell disabled stories, for disability not to be erased from any character and for this to be seen as worthwhile rather than an act of worthiness.

What is interesting with both of these is they deal with the subject of "otherness". To not incidentally portray disability is a way of saying that disabled people are no more than their conditions, and to not allow disabled actors to tell disabled stories denies them their own identity.

Equity UK have created a more in-depth guide to the access practicalities of inclusive casting processes.

Disability dramaturge

This is a role that is very similar to a regular dramaturge. It can be used in any theatre, TV or film productions that are creating, casting or telling a story about disability, or are exploring the possibility of casting disabled actors into mainstream roles. The engagement of a disability dramaturge can happen at the start of the casting process to help directors identify characters that could be played by visibly disabled actors, and discuss ideas that come from potential choices and the lenses that brings to the meaning of the play, TV drama or movie. The engagement should progress beyond casting in a traditional way working with the director and the actors, focusing on aspects storytelling and meaning to ensure authenticity and creative opportunity stays forefront with regards to visible disability.

This is a creative role and should only be carried out by a person with experience as either a professional stage or screen actor or theatre director, and who has lived experience as a visibly disabled or Deaf person. This role is not to be confused with a Disability or Accessibility Consultant as these are more functional roles focusing on practical considerations, communication strategies and organisational culture, rather than the creative process.

Examples of scripted disabled characters

Laura in The Glass Menagerie

Tennessee Williams explains that the character Laura (The Glass Menagerie) has grown up with a disability: "A childhood illness has left her crippled, one leg slightly shorter than the other, and held in a brace. This defect need not be more than suggested on the stage." This character description is vague enough to allow the director to make their own decision as to how they want to portray Laura; however, this can be seen as a missed creative opportunity as disability adds depth to her character.

Nessarose in Wicked

The musical Wicked by Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman has been running on Broadway since 2003, and has launched multiple national tours and productions worldwide. In the musical, the character of Elphaba has a sister who is a wheelchair user named Nessarose. She was disabled at birth due to a congenital birth defect, and goes through the production inhabiting the role of villain. The production has come under fire for not casting a physically disabled actor in the role.

Duke of Gloucester/The King in Richard III

In Shakespeare's play Richard III, ableism is a central theme as attitudes and prejudice drive Richard to become who he becomes. However brilliant the play is, coming from a non-disabled playwright and yet being able to deeply understand the disabled lived experience, many productions either misinterpret disability as a device to emphasise his darker deeds, or they miss the point altogether and can end up with a ableist production of a play about ableism.

Joseph Merrick in The Real and Imagined History of The Elephant Man, or previously John Merrick in The Elephant Man

Plays about important disabled historical figures can be fraught with difficulties when a non-disabled actor is cast. Understanding what it is to be a disabled person is far more than portraying a condition and how Joseph Merrick's story has evolved from John Merrick in The Elephant Man, a play that drifts from his story missing not only much of who he was (even his name is wrong) and what it is to be a disabled person, to a play that dives deeply into the lived experience. This second play has had two professional productions to date in Australia and the United Kingdom. The Real and Imagined History of the Elephant Man by Tom Wright premiered on 4 August 2017, starring Daniel Monks in the title role. The cast also featured Paula Arundell, Julie Forsyth, Emma J. Hawkins, and Sophie Ross. The play toured the the UK in 2023, directed by Stephen Bailey and starring Zak Ford-Williams as Joseph. This cast of this production included Annabelle Davies and Nadia Nadarajah.

Other examples

Other examples of where disability or metaphors for the disabled lived experience are at the core of a character are:

• Meshak Gardiner in Coram Boy
• Gregor in The Metamorphosis
• Colin in The Secret Garden
• The Creature, Igor and De Lacey in Frankenstein
• Claudius in I, Claudius
• Sarah Norman in Children of a Lesser God
• Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol
• Tiresias in Oedipus
• Polyanna in Polyanna
• Hal Jeffries in Rear Window
• Artie in Glee
• Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame
• Colin in The Secret Garden
• Helen in The Miracle Worker
• Tommy in The Who's Tommy
• John in Cost of Living
• Christopher in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
• Jess in All of Us
• Emily and Dominic in A Nervous Smile
• Ignacio, Carlos and the other boys in In the Burning Darkness
• Susy in Wait Until Dark
• Dom in I Wont Dance
• Billy in Tribes
• Laura, Max, Sally and Dr Walters in Sweet Nothing in My Ear
• Franklin D. Roosevelt in Sunrise at Campobello
• Shawn in Stuck in Neurtal
• Month in The Rules of Charity
• Jimmy in Bubble Boy
• Blanche in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane
• Arnold, Lucien Sheila, Barry and Norman in The Boys Next Door
• The Cast in The Blind
• Molly in Molly Sweeney

Some of Samual Beckett's plays, such as Endgame, have disability as an underlying characteristic, and in her book, Samuel Beckett and Disability Performance, author Hannah Simpson reveals how Beckett's theatre compulsively interrogates alternative embodiments, unexpected forms of agency, and the extraordinary social interdependency of the human body.

Disabled talent and theatre companies

One excuse used for either casting non-disabled actors in disabled roles, or resisting casing disabled actors into roles that could be played as disabled, is that there is a lack of talent to draw from. The disability theatre movement has been training actors since the mid 1980s and there are also disabled actors accessing formal training in drama schools. Organisations such as the UK's National Theatre has launches a service for casting directors called Profile to enable access professional disabled actor details and a showreel in the form of a short performance. IMDB has lists of professional disabled actors with visible disabilities.

Notable living stage actors and production reviews

The following examples of actors and and accolades provides evidence that casting disabled actors in both disabled and non-disabled roles is not an act of worthiness but a real creative opportunity for any production.

• Nadia Albina, A Streetcar Named Desire, English, Othello, Merchant of Venice
• Liz Carr, Unspeakable Conversations, The Normal Heart, Assisted Suicide
• Peter Dinklage, Cyrano, Richard III
• Daneka Etchells, Much Ado About Nothing, Brassed Off
• Madison Ferris, All of Me, The Glass Menagerie
• Zak Ford-Williams, The Real & Imagined History of The Elephant Man, A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story
• Mat Frazer, Richard III, Unspeakable Conversations, Beauty and the Beast
• Alison Halstead, The Cherry Orchard, Future Bodies, Hole, The House Of Bernarda Alba
• Kate Hood, The Cost of Living
• Arthur Hughes, Richard III, The Dutchess of Malfi, La Cage Aux Folles, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
• Melissa Johns, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Henry V
• Francesca Martinez, All of Us
• Francesca Mills, The Dutchess of Malfi, The American Clock, Mallory Towers
• Daniel Monks, Richard III, The Seagul, The Real and Imagined History of the Elephant Man
• Tom Mothersdale, Richard III, London Tide, Love and Other Acts of Violence
• Nadia Nadarajah, Anthony and Cleopatra, Grounded, Loves Labour Lost, A Midsummer Night's Dream
• Sophie Leigh Stone, Frozen, Mother Courage and Her Children, Woman of Flowers
• Katy Sullivan, The Cost of Living
• Amy Trigg, The Little Big Things, Reasons You Should(n't) Love Me, The Taming of the Shrew, The Glass Menagerie

Advice for disabled actors

In recent years the intake of disabled students has increased, although for some after years of actively blocking disabled student applications they are now actively looking for disabled students as attitudes in the theatre, TV and film industries are beginning to change. To support emerging talent publications such as The Actors' & Performers' Yearbook now provide guidance specifically targeted at young disabled actors.

Contemporary disability lead theatre companies

Since the 1980s there has been a movement focusing primarily on telling disability stories. From this several well funded and popular professional theatre companies have formed and this has become an important branch of theatre making. This is particularly significant because these have become a training ground for disabled actors, directors, producers, writers that have been excluded from mainstream channels for training, such as drama schools.

• Back to Back Theatre
• Definitely Theatre
• Graeae Theatre Company
• Mind The Gap
• National Theatre of the Deaf
• Open Circle Theatre
• Phamaly Theatre Company
• Ramps On The Moon
• Theatre Terrific
• VitalXposure