Keen to get their message across

Show makes its point in a number of ways inthe

WHAT is at the core of human connection? How do we transcend language to find ways to communicate? That’s the focus of No Fun Ction All anguage which is at the Masque from Tuesday until March 19.

Presented by the Chaeli Campaign and funded by the National Lottery Commission, it is directed by award-winning theatre maker Jayne Batzofin. The cast features Andile Vellem, Christelle Dreyer, Iman Isaacs and Daniel Richards.

The Chaeli Campaign was founded in 2004 by Chaeli Mycroft, her sister Erin and three friends to raise money for wheelchairs. Chaeli, who has cerebral palsy, was awarded the 2011 International Children’s Peace Prize and in 2012 she became the first recipient of the Nobel Peace Laureate’s Medal for Social Activism.In 2013, she was given the World of Children Youth Award in New York. The non-profit campaign has developed into an activist movement which has had a great impact on improving the mobility of children with disabilities.

Beyond the critical advocacy work it does, the Chaeli Campaign has become increasingly active using performance and innovative theatre, to challenge perceptions of what “able bodied” is.

Batzofin has worked extensively with visual/ non- verbal theatre such as with theatre company FTH:K but this production is aural as well as visual.

“This is not a visual theatre piece, like some of my other previous productions. It does not rely on props and intricately developed design elements but relies on the performers’ body and voices to create the landscape.

“This play speaks beyond ‘disability’. In fact the show is not about disability at all. I just happen to have performers who have different ways of presenting their artistic expressions,” Batzophin says.

“The show is accessible in many ways, again speaking back to the idea of intrinsically being inclusive. The visually impaired will have the richness and fullness of the musical soundscape and vocal landscape to draw their stories from.

“Deaf audience members will have a deaf performer they can relate to who signs all his texts; they will also have the movement and body language they can relate to closely. People unable to understand SASL (South African Sign Language) may feel ‘distanced’ by the moments of signed text, because they don’t understand it. This is all part and parcel of speak- ing back to the theme.

“The audience can expect to see expressive movement, bite- size snippets of performed and recognisable reality, all weaved together by the live soundtrack created onstage by Dave Knowles.”

● Tickets are R50 at bookings@ masquetheatre.co.za or 021 788 1898.

No Fun Ction All anguage MAKING A SCENE: relies on the performers’ bodies and voices to create the theatrical landscape.