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Madhouse! The institution returns

An immersive performance raises uncomfortable questions over A bird dancing in a gilded cage, unable
the status of people with learning disabilities in society. Have to escape, was played by DJ Hassan of
Corali Dance Company.
dated attitudes really been consigned to history? asks Seán kelly Then, representatives of a modern care
provider called Paradise Fields proudly
proclaimed they were at “the cutting edge
’m shell shocked!” said an believing them to be related to jaguars. of minimal intervention”.
audience member at the end of She performed a remarkable dance before Funny and moving in equal parts, the
“ithe immersive theatre show declaring herself a jaguar goddess. whole effect was positively overwhelming.
Madhouse re: exit performed by access Cian binchy played an infantilised adult,
all areas at Shoreditch Old town hall in complete with a huge baby suit and cot. Institutional talk
London earlier this year. When the carer took his nappy off, she The event was preceded by a symposium,
A group of us had spent the afternoon discovered a large rubber penis, which she that asked: “Has institutionalisation ended?”
stumbling through dusty and sometimes removed. The character complained: “You Valerie Sinason discussed secondary
smoke-filled corridors into rooms where think it’s creepy that we actually have sex handicap. This concerns obstacles that arise
actors took part in interactive scenes. because you think we are children.” as a consequence of having a disability, such
The show was based partly on the life Dayo Koleosho was a “useless eater” – a as low self-esteem and poor social relations.
story of Mabel Cooper in St Lawrence’s Nazi term – in a distressing scene, where Sheila Hollins and the creative team
Hospital in Surrey, which closed in 1994 audience members had to feed him by at Books Beyond Words launched
after over 100 years as an asylum for firing peas at him with spoons or squirting Belonging, a work of fiction about two
people with learning disabilities. pea soup with syringes. lonely people living in the community
In the show, we saw a patient being who are brought together by an
assaulted by a member of staff and unexpected event.
learnt about some of the degrading Nick Llewellyn, artistic director at
aspects of institutional life. Access All Areas, discussed how
Five lead performers with learning approaches to people with learning
disabilities took their cultural disabilities have moved from control
references from a wider arena. David to neglect.
munns played Patient 36, a Access All Areas and Books Beyond
subversive virtual guide appearing on Words, who organised the day,
screens or as a holograph. Imogen launched the Belong manifesto, which
Roberts’ character was inspired by calls for a better life for people with Access all Areas; Seán Kelly
the ancient Olmec civilisation in learning disabilities.
Mexico, where people worshipped ● https://booksbeyondwords.co.uk/
those with Down’s syndrome, Hear me roar: jaguar goddess Imogen Roberts ● www.accessallareastheatre.org/

18 Vol 31 No 4 | Summer 2018 community Living www.cl-initiatives.co.uk