Risky Business: A little show and a big conversation comes to Geelong this Wednesday, June 28, offering the opportunity to ask all those questions about disability that you have been too afraid to ask.
Presented by Raspberry Ripple and Geelong Arts Centre’s Creative Engine, Risky Business is part performance, part conversation, giving audience members to the chance to witness performers with disability engage with their art, discuss their practice and answer questions.
Featuring facilitator Zoe Boesen and award-winning disabled performers Andy Jackson, Eliza Hull and Olivia Muscat, the show invites the audience to become an active part of the conversation around disability.
Director and show creator Kate Hood, a veteran of Australian stage and screen, has worked in both mainstream and disability performing arts.
“I have the experience of having been a non-disabled actor for most of my life and I became a wheelchair user in my 40s,” Ms Hood said.
“It became very clear to me, the difference between my life before and my life after becoming a wheelchair user and the incredible lack of access for artists with a disability in the performing arts.
“I decided after some time that I wanted to set about changing that. So Risky Business is all about that.”
Ms Hood said the world had reached its “tipping point” regarding disability, with people ready for change but hesitant to discuss the issue for fear of offending.
“People feel really afraid of offending us, so rather than asking the difficult question they say nothing at all,” she said.
“That means that what we’ve got is a blank space around disability because everybody’s petrified of getting it wrong.
“It’s all about exploring and asking the question that you really want to ask. And if you offend us, we’ll tell you, but I’m pretty difficult to offend, personally.”
For tickets and more information visit geelongartscentre.org.au/creative-engine/risky-business.
