Extraordinary Bodies - championing diversity and equity in the performing arts - will bring their latest production, Waldo's Circus of Magic & Terror to The Lowry in Salford (April 20-22).
A large scale collaboration between D/deaf, disabled, and non-disabled artists and creators, the show is set in Germany in 1933, where Waldo the ringmaster and his travelling circus of outcasts and misfits dedicate themselves to their craft in a big top setting full of stories of love, courage and resistance when the law for the Prevention of Offspring with Hereditary Diseases is passed...
Writer Jamie Beddard, himself disabled, said: “I’m acutely aware of the stigmatisation of particular groups and people through the growth of fascism, in the past and now. The popularity of Eugenics in early 1930s Germany marked the beginning of a dark chapter in history where millions of people who were considered not to conform were brutally hunted down. Our dramatic exploration of this story reminds us to be always vigilant.”
Co-directors Claire Hodgson and Billy Alwen said: “Waldo’s Circus is a cross-genre feast and the music is surprising, jumping across genres and decades. The circus will be varied and exciting. It is quite punk, feisty, astonishing and about the best of us and the worst of us as humans."
Co-produced with Bristol Old Vic and Theatre Royal, Plymouth, the production opens in Bristol (March 11-April 1) before travelling to Salford. The production has live BSL interpretation and captioning projected above the stage, and an audio description can be heard on headsets. Access tours will be available before the show, and all performances will be, in the company's words, "chilled".
More info and tickets here