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Jodee Mundy Collaborations: Imagined Touch

SPILL Festival of Performance

— ,The Pit
Image of three people with headphones looking into a bright light

Enter a world where sight and sound give way to tactile communication in this ‘cutting-edge piece of theatre that transports its audience beyond the theatre seat’ (Australian Stage).

Created by Heather Lawson and Michelle Stevens, this immersive event shares the humour, grief, beauty and profound isolation of their lives as deafblind artists. After an introductory film, you’ll be provided with individual headphones and goggles, then guided into an unseen promenade installation. With light and sound distorted and restricted, it is touch that becomes integral to connection.

Recipient of Melbourne’s Green Room Award for Innovation in Experiential Performance, director Jodee Mundy is fluent in Australian sign language because everyone in her family is deaf except for her. Collaborating with Lawson and Stevens – experts in tactile sign interpreting and social haptic communication – she has shaped Imagined Touch into a piece that alters our perceptions and reframes disability as an opportunity for untapped human potential.

Tagged with: Theatre & dance The Art Of Change

This promenade installation is designed to be accessible to all audiences, uses elements of social haptics, audio-description, British sign language and subtitles, with tactile sign guides on hand to assist. 

Visitors with access requirements are eligible for a free ticket for their companion. 

Each experience lasts 30 minutes/bags and shoes to be left in the cloakroom before the performance begins. 

Timed admissions available between 4pm–9.40pm (last admission) on Wed 7, Thu 8 & Fri 9 Nov and 12pm–5.40pm (last admission) on Sat 10 &  Sun 11 Nov 2018.

Age guidance 12+

Australia

Presented by the Barbican in partnership with Pacitti Company

Supported by Able Australia, Arts Access Victoria, Australia Council, Besen Foundation, Pratt Foundation, City of Melbourne, Auspicious Arts

Creative team

Heather Lawson, Michelle Stevens Performers and Collaborators
Jodee Mundy Installation Concept, Director and Audio Description
Jen Hector Set Design, Lighting and Visual Design
Madeleine Flynn, Tim Humphrey Composition and Sound Design
Tom Chapman Director of Photography
Taran Ablitt Technical Manager
Erin Milne, Bureau of Works Producer

Reviews

‘A humbling, yet heartening experience‘
Richard Maguire, Reviews Hub

Important information for your visit

  • Please arrive promptly. Latecomers will not be admitted, but we will endeavour – where possible -  to fit you into the next available time slot
  • No food or drink will be allowed in the space
  • All coats, bags and items must be left at the free cloakroom available in level -2 foyer before the performance. Due to the nature of the installation, shoes will also need to be removed before entering. Although items are left at your own risk, the cloakroom will be supervised at all times
  • This is an immersive guided performance. If you have access requirements and have not already mentioned these as part of your booking process, please contact the box office on 020 7638 8891
  • There are elements in this performance which some might find claustrophobic
  • There are gender neutral and wheelchair accessible toilets in the level -2 foyer
  • What to expect: (spoiler alert) Greeted by tactile sign guides you will watch deafblind performers introduce their world through a film. The tactile guides will give you headphones and goggles and guide you into an unseen space. With 360˚ projection, expect to lose your depth of field, seeing only a blur of white and black. You will be feeling textures underfoot, running hands upon faceless silhouettes, hearing a distortion of sounds. You will receive tactile sign, social haptic communication and touch choreography.

Freesheet

Imagined Touch

Freesheet: Imagined Touch

Read our programme sheet for Imagined Touch including performance information, biographies and articles, or download to print at home. Also available in large print format. 

Download

Part of The Art of Change

Our 2018 season explores how the arts respond to, reflect and potentially effect change in the social and political landscape.
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