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Extant Theatre Company
Extant is the only UK-based performing arts company run by, and for, visually-impaired people. The company was founded in 1997 and is led by blind Artistic Director and CEO, Maria Oshodi. It produces a range of work for national and international touring, with an office base at Ovalhouse theatre in South London. In April 2016 they toured a production of The Chairs by Eugene Ionesco, in translation by Martin Crimp. This was a revival of the company's previous staging of the play in 2014, directed by Maria Oshodi supported by assistant director Julie Osman. For this production, Extant employed two visually-impaired actors in the roles of Old Man and Old Woman, and used live audio description as part of an innovative sound design to create a dynamic, shared experience for visually-impaired and sighted members of its audiences. The show received positive critical reception, twice mentioned in the Guardian's top theatre picks. It toured to venues in Harlow, Birmingham, Manchester and Str ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maria Oshodi
Maria Oshodi (born 1964) is a British writer and theatre director. A guide dog owner, she is Artistic director and CEO of Extant Theatre Company, Britain's only professional performing arts company of blind and partially sighted people. Life Maria Oshodi was born in South London in 1964. Oshodi's play ''The 'S' Bend'' was chosen for the Young Writers' Festival at the Royal Court Festival in 1984. Produced by the Cockpit Youth Theatre in 1985, it was chosen for the first International Festival of Young Playwrights, Interplay '85, held in Sydney. ''Blood, Sweat and Fears'', a play treating sickle cell anaemia, was written in response to a request from a worker at the Sickle Cell Centre in Lambeth. Ben is a fast-food worker who suffers from sickle cell anaemia, but resists pressure from his girlfriend Ashley to label himself as disabled. Once hospitalized, he has to attempt agency within a health-care system that is ill-informed and discriminatory. The play was first presented ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ovalhouse
Ovalhouse, formerly called Oval House Theatre, was an Off-West End theatre in the London Borough of Lambeth, located at 52–54 Kennington Oval, London, SE11 5SW. It closed in 2020, and moved to Brixton, becoming the Brixton House theatre (located at 385 Coldharbour Lane, SW9 8GL). History The roots of Ovalhouse can be traced back to the 1930s and its foundations, as Christ Church (Oxford) Clubs, by the graduates of Christ Church, Oxford. Young people from disadvantaged areas in South London were able to access sports activities, skills training and supervised leisure activities through membership of the club. Ovalhouse's reputation as one of the most important centres for pioneer fringe theatre groups dates from the 1960s, when the club underwent a radical change in the policy of the club with the arrival of newly appointed warden, Peter Oliver. Oliver refocused the club's activities from sport to drama and became the artistic founder of Oval House Theatre. Oliver staged the fi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Chairs
''The Chairs'' (french: Les Chaises) is a one-act play by Eugène Ionesco, described as an absurdist "tragic farce". It was first performed in Paris in 1952. Setting A high tower surrounded by water. Characters *Old Man, aged 95 *Old Woman, aged 94 *Orator, aged 45-50 Plot An old married couple are alone waiting for guests to arrive. The Old Man tells a favourite story from their past, and the Old Woman, who seems to be both wife and mother, says he could have been much more in life than a caretaker. He says he has a great message for mankind, and has engaged an orator to deliver it to their guests. When the guests arrive, they are invisible to the audience, yet the couple bring chairs and engage them in conversation. They include the Old Man’s former lover and a photographer with whom the Old Woman flirts. The old couple tell them contradictory stories about their past lives. They frantically arrange chairs for more and more invisible guests. The room appears to be packed and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eugène Ionesco
Eugène Ionesco (; born Eugen Ionescu, ; 26 November 1909 – 28 March 1994) was a Romanian-French playwright who wrote mostly in French, and was one of the foremost figures of the French avant-garde theatre in the 20th century. Ionesco instigated a revolution in ideas and techniques of drama, beginning with his "anti play", ''The Bald Soprano'' which contributed to the beginnings of what is known as the Theatre of the Absurd, which includes a number of plays that, following the ideas of the philosopher Albert Camus, explore concepts of absurdism. He was made a member of the Académie française in 1970, and was awarded the 1970 Austrian State Prize for European Literature, and the 1973 Jerusalem Prize. Biography Ionesco was born in Slatina, Romania, to a Romanian father belonging to the Orthodox Christian church and a mother of French and Romanian heritage, whose faith was Protestant (the faith into which her father was born and to which her originally Greek Orthodox Christ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Audio Description
Audio description, also referred to as a video description, described video, or more precisely called a visual description, is a form of narration used to provide information surrounding key visual elements in a media work (such as a film or television program, or theatrical performance) for the benefit of blind and visually impaired consumers. These narrations are typically placed during natural pauses in the audio, and sometimes during dialogue if deemed necessary. In museums or visual art exhibitions, audio described tours (or universally designed tours that include description or the augmentation of existing recorded programs on audio- or videotape), are used to provide access to visitors who are blind or have low vision. Docents or tour guides can be trained to employ audio description in their presentations. In film and television, description is typically delivered via a secondary audio track. In North America, Second audio program (SAP) is typically used to deliver audio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Haptic Technology
Haptic technology (also kinaesthetic communication or 3D touch) is technology that can create an experience of touch by applying forces, vibrations, or motions to the user. These technologies can be used to create virtual objects in a computer simulation, to control virtual objects, and to enhance remote control of machines and devices (telerobotics). Haptic devices may incorporate tactile sensors that measure forces exerted by the user on the interface. The word '' haptic'', from the grc-gre, ἁπτικός (''haptikos''), means "tactile, pertaining to the sense of touch". Simple haptic devices are common in the form of game controllers, joysticks, and steering wheels. Haptic technology facilitates investigation of how the human sense of touch works by allowing the creation of controlled haptic virtual objects. Most researchers distinguish three sensory systems related to sense of touch in humans: cutaneous, kinaesthetic and haptic. All perceptions mediated by cutaneous and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
