On behalf of the board and staff of North West Disability Arts Forum, I am delighted to welcome you to the seventh DaDaFest. This year we have decided to streamline the festival due to all our staff working flat out on DaDaFest International which will take place in September 2008 as part of Liverpool’s European Capital of Culture celebrations. However, we haven’t skimped on quality this year as the festival is a vibrant mix of poetry, theatre, visual arts and music, plus new artists performing in venues in Manchester and Liverpool. As usual we want to mention our main funders Arts Council England, Liverpool Community Fund, Liverpool Culture Company and The Paradise Project, plus the many sponsors and supporters. More details can be found in the brochure and on our website www.nwdaf.co.uk. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do! Ruth Gould Creative Director, NWDAF Throughout this brochure you will see the following symbols. These let you know the kind of event to expect.
Tuesday 6 November – 6 December
Reflections from Adult Community Education (ACE), Wigan 9am – 5pm FREE EVENT Suitable for all ages A vibrant exploration of art and creative writing reflecting the views of adults with learning difficulties and how they perceive themselves. The Derby Rooms, Turnpike Centre, Leigh, Wigan Telephone: 01942 829321 Friday 16 November – Friday 6 December
Bold and Beautiful from Everybody Counts 5pm – 7pm FREE EVENT Suitable for all ages Showcasing the work of disabled young people and their friends. Please book to view by ringing Merry Macdonald 07771 633404 or Tony Russell on 07860 432113 E-mail M.Macdonald@wiganmbc.gov.uk Lowton Youth Club, Newton Road, Lowton WA3 2BH
DaDaExhibition
DaDaDebate
DaDaMusic
DaDaTheatre
DaDaComedy
DaDaFilm
DaDaPerformance
DaDaCabaret
Saturday 17 November
DaDaLaunch Rags to Riches
Baluji Shrivastav Shadow of the Lotus tour
from Venture Arts
7.30pm – 9.30pm Tickets: £8 and £6 concession
FREE EVENT Launch: 12 – 2pm (invite only) Exhibition runs from: November 16 – December 19 Open: Tuesday – Saturday 10am – 5pm, Sunday 10.30am – 5pm, closed on Mondays Suitable for all ages The Rags to Riches project uses creative recycling in perspective to our changing environments and explores this through photography, collage, mosaic, animation, painting and drawing, 3D work, LS Lowry’s work, paper making and textiles to produce innovative, individuals and collective pieces. Community Gallery Space Third Floor, St George’s Hall Heritage Centre William Brown Street, Liverpool, L1 1JJ (Entrance St John’s Lane) Telephone: 0151 225 6909
Image by Steve Richardson
Friday 16 November
Drawing from his new internationally released album Shadow of The Lotus, Baluji will be playing sitar and the rarely heard surbahar (bass sitar) and dilruba (fretted fiddle) to craft a ravishing and utterly fresh performance that will leave audiences enthralled and inspired. A pioneering musician, Baluji continues to innovate and connect with audiences with a warmth, openness and humour, qualities that make him both a sought after soloist and collaborator who has communicated Indian music to an array of artists from Massive Attack to Soul2Soul. Baluji is a performer to be cherished. He is accompanied on tabla by the maestro Partha Mukherjee. www.baluji.com The Picket Music Venue, 61 Jordan Street, Liverpool, L1 0BW Telephone: 0151 708 6789 18+ 04
Saturday 17 & Sunday 18 November
Sunday 18 November
Masque Theatre Company
DaDaLesque
Performances at 12.30, 1.30, 2.30 and 3.30pm FREE EVENT Suitable for all ages
Daytime Debate: 2.30pm – 4.30pm Tickets: £5 and £4 concession Evening performance: 7.30pm Tickets: £8 and £6 Full day price: £10 and £8 concession
Masque Theatre Company was formed in 1987. It is the only full-time theatre company comprised of people with a learning disability in the North West. Specially commissioned by National Museums Liverpool for this year’s festival, this performance explores how we see ourselves, each other and everyday objects, it is served up with a tablespoon of subtle humour and a pinch of salt. The Atrium, World Museum Liverpool, William Brown Street, Liverpool Telephone: 0151 478 4296
DaDaFest breaks new ground by exploring issues around sexuality in disability performance. Burlesque is increasing in popularity and many disabled artists are now working in this sector. Our afternoon debate and presentations will be led by the UK’s leading disability performers and academics. Featuring Julie McNamara. The evening is hosted by Mat Fraser with performances by stunning Millie Dollar and highly entertaining Diva Hollywood and Amelie Soliel. The Picket Music Venue, 61 Jordan Street, Liverpool, L1 0BW Telephone: 0151 708 6789 18+
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Monday 19 November
Open Discussion: Places, Spaces, Objects Event and Seminar 3pm – 6pm FREE EVENT We will be holding an open discussion led by artists Mat Fraser, Alison Jones and facilitated by Kaite O’Reilly. The discussion will explore themes found both within their own work and the Turner Prize installations. Tickets will be allocated on a first come first served basis. To book contact Tate Liverpool: Telephone: 0151 702 7400 Email: visiting.liverpool@tate.org.uk Fax: 0151 702 7401 Or contact NWDAF Telephone: 0151 707 1733 Minicom: 0151 706 0365 Tate Liverpool, Albert Dock, Liverpool, L3 4BB
Monday 19 November
DaDaVerse With Open Mic Slot 7.30pm Tickets: £4 and £3 concession Poetry has always featured within the festival and this year is no exception. Hosted by Julie McNamara and Roger Cliffe-Thompson and friends from Dead Good poets will perform and also present poets from the ‘Poem 800’ project. The Picket Music Venue, 61 Jordan Street, Liverpool, L1 0BW Telephone: 0151 708 6789
15+ 15+
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Wednesday 21 November
Dynamic Symmetry by Gus Cummins Private viewing (invite only) 6 – 8pm FREE EVENT The exhibition continues until 12 December 9 – 5pm, Monday –Friday Suitable for all ages
Wednesday 21 November Liverpool Night Wednesday 28 November Manchester Night
Frogtastic Club Nights As an artist with epilepsy, painting provides Gus with a focus and an outlet. This exhibition is composed using 'dynamic symmetry', a system used across time by artists, architects and musicians. It is produced with a combination of computer generated stencils and oil paint. Neuro Support Centre Norton Street , Liverpool, L3 8LR www.neurosupport.org.uk and www.neurowords.tumblr.com Telephone: 0151 298 2999 Fax: 0151 298 2333
7.30 – 11pm All tickets: £4 Inclusive club nights for people with learning difficulties and their friends featuring the fabulous ‘Frogtastic’ DJ team of Sabrina Whitby and Greg Becket plus the premier performance by ‘The Melody Makers’ featuring Carly Ryan, Mark Kinsey & Martin Finn also a very special guest appearance by ‘The Heroes’ one of the UK’s best known inclusive pop/rock groups. www.heroesproject.org.uk Tickets can be reserved by e-mail: info@heroesproject.org.uk Venues: Alima Centre, 35 Sefton Street, Liverpool, L8 5SL The Frog and Bucket, Oldham Street, Manchester, M4 1LJ Telephone (for both nights): 07946 424 075 18+ 10
Friday 23 November
Luke Wright Poet Laureate 7.30pm Tickets: £10 and £6 Concession Luke sharpens his quill to make a bid for poetry’s top job and a nice comfy Palace sofa. With such titles as I Don’t Get Out Of Bed For Less Than Ten Grand, and his love poem for Richard Madeley: Truly Madeley Deeply, total acceptance by the British establishment is only a matter of time. Luke Wright, Poet Laureate recently completed a very successful run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. "Alternately dark, hilarious and tender poems. In his super-charged show, he demonstrates what – stripped of the portentous pauses and the pretentious clauses – live poetry can do." Evening Standard Contact Theatre Oxford Road, Manchester, M15 6JA Box office: 0161 274 0600
Friday 23 November
DaDaNoise 7.30pm Tickets: £8 and £6 concession In collaboration with the Cornerstone Festival, DaDaFest brings you a bevy of singers and musicians including Liverpool’s own Susan Hedges, Johnny Crescendo from the US, Leigh Stirling and the honeyed tones of classic performer, Minika Green in this un-missable evening. The Cornerstone Haigh Street, Liverpool, L3 8QB Telephone: 0151 291 3575 18+
15+ 12
Saturday 24 & Sunday 25 November
Let My People Go World premiere 2.00pm and 3.30pm FREE EVENT
Saturday 24 November
It Hasn’t Happened Yet! 7.30pm Tickets: £10 and £6 concession Disabled actor, writer and stand-up comic Liz Carr returns to DaDaFest to preview her first one woman play. It Hasn’t Happened Yet! is a new comedy about comedy that asks just who and what a disabled comedian can actually laugh at these days? An Outside Centre and Liz Carr co-production. ‘Liz Carr’s humour is right on the edge and fabulously black’ The Scotsman www.outside-centre.info www.lizcarr.co.uk Contact Theatre Oxford Road, Manchester, M15 6JA Box office: 0161 274 0600 Book Online: www.contact-theatre.org 12+
Abolitionist. War Hero. Illiterate. Disabled. Slave. Harriet Tubman was one of a kind and one of her people. To commemorate the Bicentenary of the act to abolish the Transatlantic Slave Trade, North West Disability Arts Forum in partnership with the International slavery Museum, (National Museums Liverpool) have commissioned Reality Productions to write and produce a brand new performance piece, based on the life, times and experiences of Harriet Tubman. Deborah A Williams, creative producer and current artist in residence with the company is an internationally renowned writer, digital composer, director and performer. Deborah was also a DaDaAwards 2006 nomminee for Best Performance Artist. Anthony Walker Room, International Slavery Museum Albert Dock, Liverpool, L3 4AQ Telephone: 0151 478 4499 8+ (younger children need to be accompanied by an adult)
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Monday 26 November
Young Peoples’s Event 4pm FREE EVENT Suitable for all ages Showcasing the work of the North West’s up and coming Deaf and Disabled Young People, this hugely popular event promises spectacular performances, an exceptional variety and an essential platform for the performers and artists of the future. St John Bosco High School 18 Stonedale Crescent, Liverpool, L11 9DQ. Contact NWDAF for details on 0151 707 1733 Tuesday 27 November
16+
End Game By Samuel Beckett Directed by Robert Rae With Nabil Shaban & Garry Robson 8pm Tickets: £8 and £6 concs Outside the shelter everything seems dead. Inside, four characters kill time by toying with each other’s hopes for a possible future, all along sensing the inevitability of their end. Featuring new kinetic sculptures from Sharmanka, Robert Rae directs Nabil Shaban and Garry Robson in Samuel Beckett’s classic. Come see it before the light finally fades.
Wednesday 28 November
Another Nasty Night Out
15+
8pm Tickets: £5 and £4 concession Nasty Girls are back – in force and funnier than ever. A uniquely Northern take on life as Deaf and disabled women. Comedy to make you laugh and think. “These stereotype wreckers should be applauded for tackling taboos head-on but they should be applauded just as loudly for their biting, satirical humour.” Big Issue in the North www.nasty-girls.co.uk Venue details for 27th and 28th Unity Theatre 1 Hope Place, Liverpool, L1 9BG Box office: 0151 709 4988 Text number: 07840 659 807 Book online: www.unitytheatreliverpool.co.uk
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Thursday 29 November
Friday 30 November
DaDaFeast and DaDaAwards
Brief-Blue-Electric-Bloom
with The Heroes and more Tickets: £50 (includes 3 course meal, wine and entertainment)
6.30pm and 8.30pm Tickets: £5 and £3 concession
Come and crush a cup of wine as we celebrate DaDaFest’s yearly awards event! Hosted by the Award winning Liz Carr and Garry Robson, this festival highlight will feature for the last time as they disband in 2008, The Heroes, There are 8 awards sponsored by Breakthrough UK, The Mersey Partnership and Tate Liverpool, Liverpool First, European Objective One, ITV Granada, The University of Liverpool, Merseyside Disability Federation, National Museums Liverpool and LA productions.
HooH HaH Productions in collaboration with internationally prize-winning composer and published playwright Ailis Ni Riain present brief-blue-electric-bloom, a new and unique performance installation combining spoken word, BSL, movement, video layering and a new contemporary classical music score performed by Tim Williams from Psappha (cimbalom) and Tom McKinney (acoustic guitar, electric guitar and banjo). Join us where words begin and music completes every sentence, where we strive to communicate our desires, hopes and loves.
Crown Plaza Hotel St Nicholas Place Princes Dock, Liverpool, L3 1QW To book a room: 0151 243 8000 To book tickets: NWDAF 0151 707 1733 18+
Greenroom 54-56 Whitworth Street West, Manchester, M1 5WW Telephone: 0161 615 0500 Fax: 0161 615 0516 www.greenroomarts.org 12+ 18
Saturday 1 December
Tuesday 11 December
Deaf Arts Seminar featuring comedian John Smith
Launch of BSL Palmpilots to guide you through:
11.30am – 8pm Suitable for all ages Deaf artists and performers come together for this event, which will be of interest to deaf sign language users. Includes a free preview performance from MerseySign Deaf Theatre. Places are limited, please book by contacting Rebecca: rebecca@nwdaf.co.uk Fax: 0151 708 9355 Minicom: 0151 706 0365 MSDP, Queens Drive, Liverpool, L13 ODJ
Sunday 2 December
DLA Piper Series: The Twentieth Century: How it looked and how if felt 4pm – 5.45pm FREE EVENT Suitable for all ages Launch of handheld palmpilots with filmed British Sign Language Interpreted content relating to a selection of the featured works. Come along for the launch, find out how they work, enjoy a drink with us and then go on a live BSL interpreted tour too! Free, but please book your place: Telephone: 0151 702 7400 Email: visiting.liverpool@tate.org.uk Fax: 0151 702 7401
British Sign Language Interpreted Tour :
Turner Prize 2007 3 – 4pm FREE EVENT Suitable for all ages
Tate Liverpool, Albert Dock, Liverpool, L3 4BB
The Turner Prize, the most prestigious contemporary arts award in Europe. This year, for the first time in its history, the prize will be held at Tate Liverpool. No need to book. Meet in foyer at 2.55pm Tate Liverpool, Albert Dock, Liverpool, L3 4BB
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This years venues Alima Centre 35 Sefton Street, Liverpool, L8 5SL Telephone: 0151 706 6900 www.novas.org Contact Theatre Oxford Road, Manchester, M15 6JA Box office: 0161 274 0600 www.contact-theatre.org
Greenroom 54 – 56 Whitworth Street West Manchester, M1 5WW Telephone: 0161 615 0500 Fax: 0161 615 0516 www.greenroomsarts.org Hope University The Cornerstone Haigh Street, Liverpool L3 8QB Telephone: 0151 291 3575
Crowne Plaza St Nicholas Place, Pier Head Liverpool, L3 1QW Telephone: 0151 243 8000 Fax: 0151 243 811 (for room bookings and info) www.cpliverpool.com
‘Let my people go’ Anthony Walker Room International Slavery Museum Maritime Museum, Albert Dock, Liverpool, L3 4AQ Telephone: 0151 478 4499
The Derby Rooms Turnpike Centre Leigh, Wigan Telephone: 01942 829 321
Lowton Youth Club Newton Road, Lowton WA3 2BH Telephone: 07771633 404
Merseyside Society for Deaf People Queens Drive Liverpool, L13 ODJ Telephone: 0151 228 0888 Neuro Support Centre Norton Street Liverpool, L3 8LR Telephone: 0151 298 2999 Fax: 0151 298 3333 The Picket Music Venue 61 Jordan Street Liverpool, L1 OBW Telephone: 0151 708 6789 Sefton Park Palm House Sefton Park Liverpool, L17 1AP Telephone: 0151 726 2415 Fax: 0151 726 2419 www.palmhouse.org.uk
St Georges Hall William Brown Street Liverpool, L1 1JJ Telephone: 0151 225 6909 Tate Liverpool Albert Dock, Liverpool, L3 4BB Telephone: 0151 702 7400 www.tate.org.uk Unity Theatre 1 Hope Place, Liverpool L1 9BG Telephone: 0151 709 4988 unitytheatreliverpool.co.uk World Museum Liverpool William Brown Street Liverpool L3 8EN Telephone: 0151 478 4296
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A massive thank you to all our supporters, including:
Accessible formats of this brochure are available on request please contact:
North West Disability Arts Forum MPAC Building, 1– 27 Bridport Street Liverpool, L3 5QF Email: dadafest@nwdaf.co.uk Telephone: +44 (0)151 707 1733 Minicom: +44 (0)151 706 0365 Fax: +44 (0)151 708 9355 Brochure photography includes images by Leila Romaya, James Dunn and Harriet Gould