Drama group creates magic for an overlooked audience

It takes a lot of imagination, intelligence and intuition to create a piece of theatre that is as apparently simple as Fruit Full, the colourful and engaging new drama from New Moon.

This city based theatre group creates multi-sensory drama for people who have profound intellectual disabilities and complex needs. New Moon’s latest show, colourful journey through the year, which incorporates film, music, and lots of tactile props, was staged last week at the city’s Nuns Island theatre. It was a magical a piece of theatre and most amazing was the response of its audience, a group which is generally overlooked in the matter of creative arts.

For New Moon’s Claude Madec, it’s vital that people with special needs have access to the arts in the same way that the rest of society does.

Claude, who works with the Brothers of Charity, was previously involved in setting up Blue Teapot Theatre, a Galway company in which people with intellectual disabilities make theatre that is professional in its scope. Its value has been immense, but there are some people who are beyond its reach.

“As Blue Teapot developed, people with severe intellectual disabilities were going to their shows, but it soon became clear to me that there was no way they could engage with the story because of their high level of disability,” he explained.

“I saw that as a big challenge and decided to do something about it.”He approached Miquel Barceló, a member of the highly regarded clowning duo, the Gombeens. That was about four years ago – it took time for everybody to be ready, the two explained in the dressing room of Nuns Island as they waited for their audience to arrive for last Wednesday’s show.

From the beginning they were determined it would be a partnership between the performers, the people with profound disabilities and those people’s carers. The performers – Claude, Miquel and Bernie Rowen – began by doing exploratory workshops which let them know what audiences wanted and how best to engage with groups which include people with different types of disabilities.

Two years ago they staged their first show, Sail Away, a drama involving all the senses, where the audience was welcome to participate.

Not surprisingly, given the level of disability involved, numbers for shows must be kept low.

“Six is the maximum,” said Claude, “and five may be the magic number.”

Many of the people who attend their shows have no speech, some have autism and all have complex needs – some can’t see or hear, so it’s important for performers to think outside the box.

“When you are creating a show, you are thinking of how you can reach all the senses,” said Miquel. “Then you need to learn to play with the moment, so for instance, if someone can’t see, you engage with them in a different way.”

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.