Ben Wilson is a
visually impaired theatre maker and actor. He currently works at Sheffield
Theatres as part of Ramps On The Moon project.
There’s two things you should know about me. Firstly, I
really love theatre and secondly, I have a job title that is either the coolest
one in the world or the silliest depending on your perspective.
I really love theatre. I always have and I always will.
There’s nothing like the buzz and excitement that surrounds a live performance
as the story unfolds right in front of you and the actors are right here in the
room with you.
From being nine years old and dreaming of being a West End
superstar through to being the pompous 19-year-old obsessing over the latest
edgy plays, I always knew that I was going to work in theatre somewhere. Even
if it meant spending my days selling ice creams in the stalls, I just wanted to
be around the theatre. And when I was 23 I was doing just that. I was a jobbing
actor, a recent drama school graduate, touring the country in a fun new play.
And then I lost my eyesight. That was a little inconvenient
to be honest. A right pain in the backside.
It was a little tough to take, and I really struggled with
the idea that this was the end of my career. I presumed I could no longer work
in theatre because blind people didn’t do that. It didn’t just feel like the
end of my career, but the end of my life.
But…
It wasn’t.
As the weeks and months went by it proved not to be the end
of my career. In fact, I would go so far as saying that losing my sight was the
start of my life in so many ways- my career in theatre has more purpose and is
more fulfilling than it ever was beforehand.
It wasn’t the end.
So why did I ever think that it was?
For so long, that question bugged me. Until I realised that
the answer was staring me in the face.
For 23 years I had gone through life never seeing visually
impaired actors, writers or directors on stage or screen. I had only ever seen
work that excluded disabled audiences. And when we were represented on stage,
it was a non-disabled actor using us as the butt of the jokes or making us out
to be pitiful to induce sympathy in a non-disabled audience.
Is it therefore any wonder that upon losing my sight and
becoming disabled that I didn’t see a future for myself in the industry?
The short version of all that is that I have first-hand
experience of why the arts need to up their game on representing D/deaf and
disabled artists and audiences.
So now the silly job title. My job title is “Agent For
Change”.
I work as the Ramps On The Moon Agent For Change at
Sheffield Theatres. Ramps On The Moon is a brilliant, revolutionary project
happening at a consortium of six of the nation’s leading venues. Those six
theatres are Ipswich’s The New Wolsey, London’s Theatre Royal Stratford East,
The Rep in Birmingham, Nottingham Playhouse, Leeds’ West Yorkshire Playhouse
and Sheffield Theatres.
Ramps has two strands to it. Firstly, for every year that
Ramps is running there will be a tour travel round those 6 theatres. These
shows have a cast and company that brings together D/deaf, disabled, hearing
and non-disabled artists. Every performance has integrated BSL, captions and
audio description and there will be regular relaxed performances in the hope
that these shows will be as accessible as possible. If you haven’t seen a Ramps
Show yet, you are seriously missing out.
The second strand to Ramps, and to me the main purpose of
the project, is to inspire long-term, positive change in the way these venues
and the wider industry think about disability and access. As part of this, all
of the Ramps theatres have an Agent For Change and here in Sheffield that’s me!
Ta da!
What is so exciting about Ramps On The Moon is seeing senior
people in the industry, the people who can make real change, engage with the
problems that some of us have been banging on about for years… and that is
seeing real results.
It is so exciting to be part of Sheffield Theatres. To be
working at a theatre that produces and houses theatre of the highest quality
fills me with joy. I may be biased but it seems obvious to me that the work
created at Sheffield Theatres can rival any theatre being made anywhere in the
country and beyond. So I’m sure you will understand why I absolutely love
working here. And it’s a particular thrill to me to see the senior team engage
in the fight to make theatre in this country as equal, diverse and accessible
as possible- I feel privileged to add to and expand the work that Sheffield
Theatres is already doing on this front.
I’d be really
interested to hear from people about what more big theatres could do to support
disabled audiences. What sort of thing would you like to see your local theatre
do to get you involved? And who are your favourite d/deaf or disabled actors?
