What is Disciples?
Disciples is a brand-new show created by an incredible group of women and non-binary people. Together they fiercely, passionately and honestly bring the stories of their bodies to life through music, movement, text and image. Made by Rachel Drazek and Ellen Renton, the show development was devised collaboratively by Saida Ahmed, Sally Clay, Helen Fox, Emma McCaffery and Bea Webster who identify as D/deaf and disabled performers.
Your support is crucial in helping to take their stories on tour across Scotland.
Disciples BSL introduction with Bea Webster
What's the Story?
Disciples doesn’t follow a traditional storyline. As a collaborative work, it is devised by the group and this process lets the performers tell their stories in their own way.
Disciples will be a joyous and powerful, intimate and tender experience for the performers and audiences to share together, exploring stories that are too often ignored in theatre. With your help, Disciples will be a tour which places D/deaf and disabled experiences and accessibility for both artists and audiences at its heart.
"It's highly unusual to have this many disabled people working together on a show. This feels like a beautiful opportunity to do something that hasn’t been done before, to create a space that hasn’t previously existed."
- Ellen Renton
The COVID pandemic showed how often D/deaf and disabled people, their experiences and their stories are excluded from society - and theatre is no different. This show shines a light on bodies we don’t normally see and amplifies voices we don’t normally hear.
Why is it called Disciples?
The show is first and foremost an act of collaboration by a group united by common themes. These include joy in the company of others, faith in ourselves and each other, what it means to trust, what movement, dance, energy and intimacy mean to us all together. It questions who gets to be the storytellers of our experiences.
Stellar Quines Theatre Company, in partnership with Pitlochry Festival Theatre, is working to take Disciples on the road in 2023 to reach audiences across Scotland. From the Central Belt to the Highlands and Islands, from our big city theatres to the small rural venues, we want this show to tour to a wide range of places.
Be a Part of Disciples
The Disciples Tour will:
• Be a great night out
• Centre the stories of D/deaf and disabled women and non-binary people
• Share these stories on stages across Scotland
• Have accessibility for creatives and audiences at its heart
Your donation will:
• Enable us to tour to at least 6 venues across Scotland
• Ensure that the access requirements for the creative team are met at each venue
• Support the Quines' work for greater gender equality
We would love to have you come along, as project supporters, on the Disciples journey as the tour develops over the next year.
Meet the Team
"The entire creative team and cast are working together for the first time - we want to ride on this incredible energy."
- Rachel Drazek
The idea for Disciples began with Rachel. As co-collaborators, she and Ellen have brought together five outstanding performers from different backgrounds and creative practices. Disciples creates a space for the team to collaboratively explore ideas and devise their dream show.
Director
Rachel Drazek (She/Her) is a movement director and theatre maker. Her work covers theatre and film and includes extensive experience in education and community projects. Rachel is Performance coach for post-graduate Creative Musicians at Leeds College of Music and has an MA Movement from UCLAN. Her work includes Orbits for Birds Of Paradise (BOP) (short film in production) 2022 ; Come to Bed with Me for BOP & Battersea Arts Centre, made online during lockdown; Augumented for Sophie Woolley, national tour ; Purposeless Movements for BOP at Edinburgh International Festival ; Act of Repair for Scottish Youth Theatre’s National Ensemble; My Left/Right Foot for National Theatre Scotland ; Sunday in the Park With George for Royal Conservatoire of Scotland ; If We’ve Never Been to the Moon for The Marlowe Theatre & national tour.
Co-collaborator/Writer
Ellen Renton (She/Her) is a poet, performer, and theatre maker from Edinburgh. Since performing her own work for the first time in 2015, she has read at venues including The Scottish Parliament, The Roundhouse, and Leith Theatre, and at festivals such as Verve, and Norwich + Norfolk Festival. While always keeping poetry at its core, her work is varied and has included theatre, journalism, and multimedia collaborations. She was the recipient of Unlimited R&D Award 2021. Her poetry pamphlet, An Eye For An Eye For An Eye, was published by Stewed Rhubarb Press in 2021 – it explores what it means to grow up a girl, and how this experience intersects with disability and visual impairment
Performers
Saida Ahmed is a black, disabled, woman with Cerebral Palsy who lives in East London. Saida studied at Chickenshed Theatre, and got herself a BA Degree in Inclusive Theatre. She is represented by Geri Spicer, at Independent Talent Agency. Saida is an actress, poet, writer and a 2020 Stage Debut Award Nominee for the title character in Little Miss Burden at the Bunker Theatre. Saida's credits include: Brassic; Unprecedented - The Unexpected Expert (BBC4); The Gift (for the Graeae Theatre Company’s YouTube channel for Crips Without Constraints); Soul Food (Burn Bright); Head Over Wheels (Open Sky Ahead Theatre Company); and Notes to Forgotten She-Wolves (The Globe).
Sally Clay (She/Her) is a graduate of Trinity College of Music. She worked for Limelight Music as Music Development Officer and later as Musical Director until 2011. Sally's theatre credits include: Actor/Musician in Threepenny Opera; Can You Hear Me? for BOP; and The Winter King for Tron Theatre. Musical Director work includes Tron Theatre pantomimes (2006 – 2010); and Citizens Theatre’s They Shoot Horses, Don't They? and Liar. Sally was a judge for BBC’s All Together Now series 2. Additionally, she worked as a facilitator, delivering pioneering workshops for children and young people across central Scotland. In 2021, she worked on BOP’s Super Special Disability Roadshow which inspired her to develop a one-woman show inspired by her experiences as a blind mother.
Helen Fox (She/Her) is a disabled actor, writer and theatre producer. She has a particular interest in issue based work, believing that the arts are more than entertainment, an interesting and exciting tool for change. She has played many roles from Shakespearian classics to new writing and loves the opportunity to try something different. Helen has a small touring company and enjoys making live work accessible to all, touring all over from Nairn to Brighton. This project is a wonderful exploration into the physical, pushing Helen out of her comfort zone and into a fantastic new world.
Emma McCaffrey (She/Her) has been a member of Lung Ha Theatre Company since 2013. Shows include The Hold, The Strange Case of Jekyll and Hyde, Linda Mclean's THingummy Bob and The Three Sisters. She worked with Catherine Wheels to create the show, Emma and Gill, that toured Scottish schools and also worked with the National Theatre of Scotland for The Reason I Jump (2018). She runs the independent and disability-led Youtube channel, The Reluctant Penguin Productions, that feature charities get2gether, Lung Ha Theatre and others. Emma made her playwright debut with Yui in 2022. She is also the creator of the independent film Autism - A Bunch of Tangled Wires (2021).
Bea Webster (They/Them) is a Deaf queer non-binary Scottish-Thai actor, writer and drag queen. Bea graduated with a BA Performance in British Sign Language and English from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Bea’s recent theatre credits include Red (Polka Theatre), The Winter's Tale (Royal Shakespeare Company), Holding/Holding On (National Theatre of Scotland). Bea's recent writing credits includes Is This A Fairytale? (Wonder Fools/Traverse Theatre), Squeezy Yoghurt (National Theatre of Scotland). Bea was nominated for Best Actor at the Stage Debut Awards 2019 for their role in Mother Courage and Her Children (Red Ladder/Leeds Playhouse).
About Stellar Quines
Disciples is being produced by Stellar Quines, a Scottish touring theatre company, established in 1993. We work collaboratively to create work that places women and non-binary people centre-stage, providing space for them to explore and share their stories. In addition to touring shows, our programme includes support and development opportunities for artists, engagement projects with communities, and campaigns to promote greater equity.
"This feels like exactly the right show for us to produce and to bring audiences together again. Disciples is a piece where we can all move, sweat, think and dream together after a period of being so separated and still. Please join us and play a part in sending Disciples on tour."
- Caitlin Skinner, Stellar Quines Artistic Director/CEO
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Thank you
Thank you for engaging with our Disciples Tour Crowdfunder. We hope you will continue to follow the progress of the show.
The money you donate to this Crowdfunder will go towards supporting the creative team on tour in 2023. From across the central belt to the highlands and islands, from our big city theatres to the small rural venues, we want this show to tour to a wide range of places. There is already a lot of enthusiasm from theatres and community spaces in Scotland for the Disciples Tour in 2023. With your help, we would love to be able to tour to as many venues as possible across Scotland.