Trans Vegas, the UK's largest festival celebrating trans and non-binary artists from Manchester, across the UK and beyond, are excited to present Jamie Hale’s CRIPtic Cabaret x NOT DYING as part of their November schedule focusing on non-binary artists.
Following the sell-out launch of Trans Vegas 2022 in July, which simultaneously launched Travis Alabanza’s memoir None of the Above plus opening Manchester Pride in August, with the Trans Filth and Joy stage show and party, Trans Vegas return to Manchester with the second of three spectacular events this November.
CRIPtic Arts presents a double bill of riotous, political and joyful work by d/Deaf and disabled performers with CRIPtic Cabaret x NOT DYING. Following their sold-out Barbican Pit Party Cabaret in 2019 & 2021, CRIPtic Arts are heading to Manchester especially for Trans Vegas.
The CRIPtic Cabaret includes performances by folk singer Kit Knight (Manchester Folk Festival, Sunday Singaround Resident), comedian Sam Serrano (DAVE Disability Showcase; runner-up for Comedy Bloomers: LGBT Comedian of the Year 2019, finalist of the Leicester Square New Comedian of the Year 2019), poet and performer Ashleigh Wilder (Macbeth 2022, Leeds Playhouse; Transcendence Trans Creative Festival, 2021; In Progress: for Love Bites York Theatre Royal, 2021) plus singer/songwriter Dennis Queen.
The cabaret is just the start of the evening, followed by a performance of NOT DYING created by Jamie Hale. NOT DYING is a multidisciplinary solo(ish) show exposing the interiority of their experiences with disability and mortality. Fusing poetry, monologue, and theatre, NOT DYING is both a manifesto of change, boldly highlighting the way disableism sears across their life, limiting their independence and autonomy and a love letter to wholeness, queer sex and the bold, transgressive act of living joyfully as a disabled person.
Deftly balancing the starkness of facing one’s death with the expansive work of being a disabled person in the world, it brings together comedy and confessional work, sexuality and self-expression, to end on a note that holds the joy of being alive, in a world that can be changed.
Directed by Athena Stevens and Produced by Caitlin Richards for CRIPtic Arts, it has a soundscape designed by Julian Starre & Lawrence Keaton, original composition from CN Lester, and lighting design by Al Simpson.
About CRIPtic Cabaret: The deaf and disabled community is brimming with talent and creativity, yet there are so few professional opportunities for deaf and disabled artists that showcase the calibre of that work. CRIPtic began showcasing the work of deaf and disabled artists in 2019, with the Barbican Pit Party. After a sell-out run, they were invited back in 2021, where they staged another sell out performance generating rave reviews’ In 2022, CRIPtic is excited to break out of London and bring the CRIPtic Cabaret showcase to Trans Vegas, supported by the TransCreative team.
About NOT DYING: NOT DYING began as a series of poems about dying, and moved into something far bigger than that, as a final treatment experiment gave them their life back. But, in the cosmic joke that shapes their life, just as they were writing a play about no longer being actively dying, everything was up for grabs again.
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It is about the process of coming to terms with the presence of death in Jamie’s life – and how they can turn that into a challenge to disablism. It moves from the hospital-based depths of mortal illness to asking “how can I, as a disabled person, exist joyfully in the world, and what is stopping me?”
About CRIPtic Arts: CRIPtic Arts is one of the 25 most influential disabled community organisations in the UK (Shaw Trust 2022). They are a disabled-led arts organisation in that the decisions, the art, the management, and the creativity come entirely from deaf and disabled people. They aim to change the artistic world, reducing disablist barriers for creatives and audiences.
Recent and previous productions include, CRIP Monologues, (Camden People’s Theatre 2022), CRIPtic Pit Party (Barbican 2021, 2019), CRIPtic Micro-Festival,(Lewisham Borough of Culture 2022).
CRIPtic Arts is led by Artistic Director Jamie Hale. Jamie is a writer-performer-director, who has experience writing and performing their solo show NOT DYING (Barbican 2019, HOME Manchester 2022) and their multi-character play I Want To Live (Stratford East, April 2022). They have also directed at the Barbican Pit (CRIPtic 2021) and had poetry & other writing published nationally. Jamie is one of the esteemed 21-22 Jerwood Poetry Fellows.
HOME, 2 Tony Wilson Pl, Manchester M15 4FN
Friday11th November, 7.45pm
Tickets:https://homemcr.org/production/criptic-cabaret-x-not-dying/