The Inside Project: Towards a 'Universal' Inclusive Theatre Devising Framework for Disabled and Non-Disabled Collaborators

For people with disabilities there are many visible physical barriers, and many more invisible cultural and social barriers that prevent or inhibit them from participating in theatre, either as collaborators in the creation of the work, or as audiences engaging with the performance. While there are many disability theatre writers and practitioners and universal design experts currently working to address such barriers in determined and ingenious ways, there seems to be potential for further inclusion of people with disabilities, via the advancement of an inclusive theatre-making process. Such a process has potential to create devising conditions in which both disabled and non-disabled collaborators have equal opportunity and input, and in doing so, challenge negative perceptions and stigmas about people with disabilities. It may also have the potential to integrate and perhaps extend the boundaries of traditional (non-disability) theatre by creating new insights, connections and approaches for collaborators, and experiences for audiences. To develop a framework for such a process, Universal Design Principles - guidelines for accessible space and object design to benefit not only the disabled, but all users - were adapted for the Inside project to apply not only to edifices and artefacts, but specifically to devising processes. Several of Anne Bogart and Tina Landau's Viewpoints were then deployed within this framework as ensemble-building and performance development techniques and reference points over a three-month devising period. The process was documented from the outset using various media, and the project demonstrated that it is conceivable to create a process that provides equal opportunities and expectations for devising collaborators, whether disabled or non-disabled, and which is also fully accessible to audiences.