My Left Right Foot the musical set to outrage at Edinburgh Festival Fringe

 

Credit National Theatre of Scotland

Birds of Paradise Theatre (BOP), Scotland’s leading disability-led performance company, and the National Theatre of Scotland (NTS) are teaming up to co-present My Left Right Foot – The Musical. The celebratory musical production at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe marks BOP’s 25th year.

The witty and irreverent musical satire takes aim at the representation of disabled people, both on stage and screen, by non-disabled actors and will feature original music.

The plot follows the local am-dram society which is under pressure to comply with the equalities agenda. They come up with a cunning plan to create a gripping show starring ‘the disabled’. What could be better than the Oscar-winning ‘My Left Foot’? The only snag is they’re having real trouble finding any disabled actors – but that never stopped Daniel Day-Lewis!


In the world of amateur theatre, winning the one-act festival isn’t a matter of life and death – it’s much more important. Enthusiastic Amy thinks she can save the day but is grumpy Chris up for the challenge?

Gillian has been given the role of Movement Director but she’s only got Grade Three Modern and Tap, and Grant – well Grant’s just too busy fancying himself. Throw in a few love triangles and throw out political correctness, all the drama happens behind the curtains.

Taking the representation of Irish author Christy Brown in the 1989 film My Left Foot, inspired by his memoir of a life with cerebral palsy, as a starting point, the production will be a smart and raucously funny take on the politics of disability and representation.

It explores and challenges the portrayal of disabled people in theatre and film and asking important questions about who gets to play disabled characters on stage.

Credit @NTSonline on Twitter

The production is also supported by the Bobath Scotland who provide specialist therapy to those living with cerebral palsy (CP) in Scotland. The musical offers integrated British Sign Language through a character on stage, captioning (text of all spoken and sung elements) and audience description (for visually impaired audience members) at all performances.

There will also be a loop system in place for all performances – BOP are working with advice from Action on Hearing Loss to support the installation of the best loop system with the aim that Assembly roll this out to all performances in 2019.

There will be a relaxed performance on 19 August for audience members who would benefit from a more relaxed and informal environment and or for people with autism. This performance is part of the National Theatre of Scotland’s partnership with the National Autistic Society who are supporting the company’s 2018 programme celebrating neurodiverse audiences and artists.

See My Left Right Foot – The Musical at the Edinburgh Fringe from 1-27 August. Tickets range from £10 to £16. Join the conversation using #MyLeftRightFoot.

To get your tickets call the box office on 0131 560 1581 or click here.

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