A few weeks ago, artistic directors of Birds of Paradise Theatre Company past and present met up to take stock. It had been thirty years, after all, since the foundation of what has become Scotland’s premiere producers of theatre created and performed by disabled artists. With current company boss Robert Softley Gale gathering alongside his former co-director Garry Robson and their predecessors Morven Gregor and founding director Andrew Dawson on the eve of a tour of Rob Drummond’s dark comedy about the benefits system, Don’t. Make. Tea., this made for quite a summit meeting.
Among the many things discussed, Dawson reminded Softley Gale how he had visited Softley Gale’s school to present a workshop on the then freshly founded Birds of Paradise. Keen to get young people involved, Softley Gale was invited to take part, only to tell Dawson he was far too busy.
While Softley Gale’s interest in theatre developed while a student at the University of Glasgow studying Computer Science and Business Management, he never saw him taking an on stage role. After speaking at a university event about his experience of education as a disabled man, however, he was asked to audition for what would become the first integrated theatre company in Europe, founded at the Theatre Workshop venue in Edinburgh.
Despite having never acted before, Softley Gale spent a year with the company. This led him to Birds of Paradise, first as an actor in Garry Robson’s play, The Irish Giant(2003). In the two decades since, Softley Gale has seen how the company has developed into a major theatrical force.
‘I think for any company to be going for thirty years is quite remarkable,’ Softley Gale says of the organisation he prefers to refer to as BOP. ‘I think that is especially so for a company like BOP, where the external perception is maybe around doing work for disabled people that’s for a good cause. I think because of that it’s even more of an achievement just to be here after thirty years, and to still be making work that’s having a big impact and bringing in big audiences. So, yeah, it feels good.’
Birds of Paradise was formed out of an arts and disability based community theatre project initiated by the Fablevision company hat gave the new offshoot its name. With collaborations between Fablevision and BOP overseen by directors Michael Duke and Liz Gardiner, BOP went on to become fully independent in its own right. Early works included Farce of Circumstance(1994), by disabled playwright Tom Lannon and directed by Dawson. Other key productions included a collaboration with 7:84 Scotland on a production of Sam Shepard and Joseph Chaikin’s word based collage, Tongues(1997), and a new play by Alasdair Gray, Working Legs(1998).
Under Gregor, BOP produced Ian Stephen’s football based Brazil 12 Scotland 0(2005), which also featured Softley Gale in the cast. Other plays presented under Gregor’s tenure included Mouth of Silence(2006), by Gerry Loose, Kathy McKean’s Spider Girls are Everywhere(2007), Offshore(2008) by Alan Wilkins, and a production of Bertolt Brecht’s Mother Courage and Her Children(2011), featuring Alison Peebles in the title role.
Softley Gale was appointed joint artistic director with Shona Rattray and Garry Robson in 2012. Productions since then have included Wendy Hoose(2014) by Johnny McKnight, in co-production with Random Accomplice; and Crazy Jane(2015), by Nicola McCartney. Rattray departed BOP in 2015, with Robson leaving in 2018 after appearing alongside Softley Gale in Softley Gale’s play, Blanche & Butch (2017) and directing The Tin Soldier (2017).
With the company having already brought disabled theatre into the twenty-first century, Softley Gale’s sole stewardship began with My Left/Right Foot(2018).
This was an irreverent a musical written and directed by Softley Gale and co-produced by BOP with the National Theatre of Scotland.
Working with composers Scott Gilmour and Claire McKenzie, aka Noisemaker, and Jerry Springer – The Operacomposer Richard Thomas, Softley Gale’s play tackled liberal sensitivities over inclusivity head on in a scurrilous yarn about an amateur dramatics group who attempt to comply with equalities laws by doing a production of Jim Sheridan’s Oscar winning 1989 film, My Left Foot. This was the Oscar winning film that saw able-bodied Daniel Day-Lewis ‘crip up’ as disabled artist Christy Brown. Another Softley Gale work, Purposeless Movements(2019), was seen as part of Edinburgh International Festival.
With BOP continuing to blaze a trail for disabled theatre with work that can sit alongside any other professional theatre company on artistic merit alone, after thirty years, Softley Gale sees the future of BOP going global.
‘We already do a lot of work overseas,’ he says. ‘We’ve been working a lot in Rwanda, Nepal, and China. We do quite a lot of work engaging with disabled artists all over the world, and looking at how we can help them to develop what they do. I think that’s something really exciting in terms of what that lets us bring back to Scotland.
‘We can all be quite guilty of telling our stories over and over again, and that’s great, but what I've been finding fascinating when I meet a disabled person in China is we see how different their lives are, but also how similar they are to mine. So I think more international collaborations is something we definitely want to explore.’
As a demonstration of how far BOP have come over the last three decades in terms of creative access, Don’t. Make. Tea. includes a description for the visually impaired, a sign language interpreter and captions woven into the play’s story.
‘It’s been great the last couple of years,’ Softley Gale reflects. ‘Myself and my colleagues have been at events where people come over and say, oh, Birds of Paradise, I love their work. That reputation that we’ve now got around the UK and further afield is very strong, and it’s great to build on that keep giving people productions they can enjoy, and come back to again and again. As a theatre maker, regardless of disability or any of that, that’s where you want to be.’
Don’t. Make. Tea. opens at Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, 21-22 March, then tours until April.
The List, March 2024
Ends
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