A queer cripple production, Gather Your Party Before Venturing Forth is an intimate conversation facilitated (and hampered) by the shared experience of gaming. In playful settings inspired by the Baldurs Gate video games, two gamers reach for each other across thousands of miles and an ocean of misunderstanding. The story explores homelessness in the UK and abroad, particularly for disabled people, choice, neurodivergence and the value of community. Instagram: @gypbvf_play
This event is for the free live-streamed reading on 6 July. The production will be staged at Hotbed Festival later in the same month. All performances are Open Captioned.
This work-in-progress production is supported by Menagerie Theatre Companys Hidden Voices program.
Writer/Producer - Bobby Brill: I'm a trans disabled artist and crip doula living in homeless temporary accommodation near London. This story originated at Leicester 14/48 festival in November 23 where this 10min production (watch from 35:25) was written, directed, scored, designed and performed in 48 hours. Inspired by my love of video games and experiences connecting with loved ones while we all live with housing instability the script grew and an extended version was selected for Graeae's Crips with Chips Showcase and produced script-in-hand at the Liverpool Everyman in February 24.
Player 1 - Charlie
Oliver George (he/him) is a chronically ill fun chap, giving himself four pep talks a day to join the production whilst balancing all of the faltering systems in his body. 18k people follow his videos about chronic illness and otters - proudly, if somewhat questionably, appearing on page 3 of The Sun in March this year. TikTok: @iamolivergeorge_
Player 2 - River
Amanda Grace (she/her) is a performer of care, integrating theatrical frameworks and psychological theory into earnest moments of empathy. Her care performance work has taken her across historical stages, underground theatres, fringe festivals, shipping containers, pop-up speakeasies, and arts collectives, reclaiming Victorian operating theatres for mad people in Trephination for the Twenty-First Century, writing love letters to strangers in Love In, and refashioning tales of legendary women in the latest of three independently-released EPs. Outside of her storytelling work, she serves the Access, Care & Inclusion needs of Equity London South Branch and as a Disability Representative at the National Theatre. She trained at Rose Bruford and RADA. thatamandagrace.com
Disabled Justice is baked into this production. Through the shared activity of gaming this production deals with the issue of long term illness and disability in a way thats relatable to anyone. The story explores Section 21 no fault Evictions which are a hotly debated topic in the UK and, in a country where less than 10% of all housing is wheelchair accessible, a particularly alarming issue for disabled people.
