Witty, political, empowering
An ARC Stockton Homemakers commission
“It is a dynamo solo performance from actor Phillipa Cole and is chock-full of witty and cleverly explored disability politics and feminist issues.”
Disability Arts Online
Vici’s Homemaker commission will present work in two parts – the short film Siege exploring what it means to be disabled and ‘looked at’ and The Wrong Woman Discussions, a series of five themed discussion films between disabled women performance makers. Both can be seen on their own but for the full experience it is recommended to watch the discussions before watching Siege to get the full impact of the work.
Part 1: The Wrong Woman Discussions
A series of five themed discussion films between disabled women performance makers. Free and available here.
Part 2: Siege – the film
Written and directed by Vici Wreford-Sinnott
Performed by Philippa Cole
BSL interpretation Sue Lee
Siege is available via the orange book now button.
Siege is a short, filmed character monologue exploring what it means to be disabled and ‘looked at’. It’s from a longer-term piece of work and centres on the character of Mim (rhymes with quim). Mim, performed by the brilliant Philippa Coles, is a funny, edgy radical, trying to live a subversive lifestyle right slap bang in the middle of the radar, with a shame-free approach to the disabled female body, who can’t get a gig. What’s it gonna take to change that?
The monologue is a part of character exploration for a longer piece of work, originally intended to be a national touring production in 2021 – we’ll see what the future now brings but it has been interesting/challenging creating work to share in short film form in the digital realm. It’s neither a beginning nor an ending, it’s just where we are now.
You can find our more about the inspiration behind Siege in this blog post from Vici Wreford-Sinnott.
“As a live performance maker dependent on the electric energy the exchange with a live audience brings, the initial prospect of making work for the internet, which feels bigger than the universe and is currently awash with amazing talent, was quite daunting. But once I’d connected to the themes that interest me most – funny bold women, lesser heard voices and a punk sensibility – I knew it was an opportunity to create a space for something very exciting, possibly explosive.”
Vici Wreford-Sinnott
Pricing
Tickets are available as ‘Pay What You Can’ – the suggested price for this event is £10 – but there are a range of ticket prices so you can choose what you can afford from the options, including £0 as we want as many people as possible to access our Homemakers commissions.
We’ve also included a higher option for anyone who wants to take the opportunity to make a larger donation to our artists and organisations. How much you choose to pay is completely up to you, and every audience member will receive exactly the same content and experience.
All the money raised from ticket sales for this event will be split evenly with 50% going directly to the artist and 50% to ARC, Stockton to allow them to continue to support future artists and commissions.
Homemakers Project Overview
Homemakers is a series of new commissions, where we invite our favourite artists and artistic partners to combine to create work at home, for an audience who are also at home.
We’re not pretending that all art can be experienced online just as satisfactorily as in person; but we want to demonstrate the innovation of artists who work all kinds of forms, by inviting them to respond to this very specific context. We want to bring contemporary new performance to audiences all over the world, in all its form-flexing, mind-expanding, surprising subversive brilliance.
Access
All the videos in Siege Part 1 are presented with Audio Description, BSL interpretation and Caption Subtitles.
Please contact us if you would like further information on access for Homemakers by emailing: access@homemcr.org
About Vici Wreford-Sinnott
Vici Wreford-Sinnott is a disabled writer, theatre director, activist and feminist who believes in a cultural landscape without limitation. Vici is committed to disabled-led work which explores form, engages audiences in new ways and challenges established theatre venues and organisations to ensure they are not simply replicating the status quo in the work they choose to programme.
@viciws on Twitter
About ARC Stockton
ARC is a venue in the centre of Stockton on Tees, offering a full programme of professional, high quality cultural entertainment including music, comedy, drama, dance, spoken word, film and work for families.
@arcstockton on Twitter
