Home > Features > Reviews > Xposure 2004: London Festival of Deaf and Disability Arts
The third Xposure Arts Festival, which ran from 1-27 November 2004, was among the largest festivals of disabled artists and performers in the UK.
More than 40 productions, including theatre, dance and visual arts, film/video, comedy, live literature, poetry and storytelling were held throughout the month in six London venues and three London-based organisations.
At Jackson's Lane Arts Centre, hub of the Festival, Deafinitely Theatre presented Children of A Greater God , by Tomato Lichy. A challenging response to the play Children Of A Lesser God , the play follows the love story between a deaf woman and a speech therapist who is firmly convinced that his way is the right way. The response highlighted the story from a deaf perspective and drew attention to contemporary deaf issues.
A comedy night brought together comedy-circuit favourites Philip Patston and The Nasty Girls, and the festival also showcased Laurence Clark's The Jim Davidson Guide to Equality , a huge hit at this year's Edinburgh Fringe.
Storyteller Kevin Kling, whose irreverent stories on the eccentricities of those who call America home fall somewhere between David Lynch's perversity and Garrison Keller's home-spun humour, presented The Frozen Moose and Other Stories at Croydon Clocktower and Jackson's Lane.
Actor and dancer Andrew McLay's debut as a writer and solo performer, Watch The Spider , was a monologue devised to break down barriers and taboos about an issue never before explored on stage. Produced at Oval House Theatre, in Kennington, it followed the psychological and physical journey of a man who prides himself on his body until a spinal injury leaves him permanently paralysed, impotent and incontinent.
Graeae brought their national tour of Martin Sherman's Bent to the artsdepot in North Finchley, and Mind The Gap performed a forum theatre production Never Again at Croydon Clocktower, culminating in a daily audience discussion on disabled accessibility to arts events.
At Jackson's Lane, the venue's Heart n Soul company presented A Sense of Time , an evening of experimental pieces and chilled-out music provided by a selection of DJs, and StopGap Dance Company performed a triple bill. Other dance in the season included Inflections , a programme of dance curated by Corali Dance Company at Sadler's Wells.
The Albany Theatre, which - along with artsdepot - was a new participant, presented a one-day event, Albany Xposure, showcasing multi-media work by three of its resident companies: Drake Music Project, Heart n Soul and Entelechy Arts.
Exhibitions held in conjunction with the festival included Joy Hurkoo presented by Siren Arts, Ali Kamalati and Gillian Street at Jackson's Lane; work from deaf and disabled artists at the Byam Shaw School of Art; and The Way Ahead at the Oval House, when disabled people expressed their feelings about inclusion and intertgration through symbols inspired by the Highway Code.
Friendly URL: http://www.disabilityartsonline.org.uk/xposure