chapter 11 “…and we all”: The Phenomenon of Theatre 21
In: Disability and Dissensus: Strategies of Disability Representation and Inclusion in Contemporary CultureSearch for other papers by Wiktoria Siedlecka-Dorosz in
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Abstract
The chapter presents the history of Theatre 21 (T21), the first professional Polish theatre company of actors with intellectual disability. It examines the way in which T21’s artistic director Justyna Sobczyk has been creating a truly dissensual, political theatre by empowering her actors to speak about their problems in their own voice. Wiktoria Siedlecka-Dorosz focuses in particular on Tisza be-Aw [Tisha B`Aw] (2015). Alluding to the extermination of patients of mental institutions, the performance highlights the remains of eugenic thinking and the mechanisms of social exclusion that are still operative in the contemporary societies. The chapter also discusses T21’s 2018 performance entitled Rewolucja, której nie było [Revolution that Never Took Place], which was devised as a response to the first major sit-in at the Polish parliament staged by people with disabilities, their parents, and carers.