Picture: Patrick Baldwin
Graeae’s hit 2017 production of Reasons To Be Cheerful will be made available free of charge for a limited period as part of the programme of online activity launched last month by the UK’s leading disabled-led theatre company.
Written by Paul Sirett with music by Ian Dury and The Blockheads, the performance was filmed in front of a live audience at the Theatre Royal Stratford in the autumn of 2017. Produced in association with the Belgrade Theatre Coventry, the production by Graeae’s artistic director Jenny Sealey visited Stratford as part of a UK tour.
Featuring Ian Dury and the Blockheads’ biggest hits, the 2017 production also included a new anti-austerity protest song ‘If It Can’t Be Right Then It Must Be Wrong’ written for the show by members of The Blockheads, Chas Jankel and Derek Hussey with Graeae’s John Kelly.
The cast for the production is made up of Stephen Collins, Joey Hickman, Beth Hinton-Lever, Stephen Lloyd, Gerard McDermott, Jude Mahon, Wayne ‘Pickles’ Norman, Max Runham and Karen Spicer. The on-stage band comprises John Kelly on lead vocals, Paul Sirett on guitar, Joey Hickman on keyboard, Nixon Rosembert on bass, Louis Schultz-Wiremu on saxophone and Paula Stanbridge-Faircloth on drums.
Reasons To Be Cheerful will be available to view from 3 June until 3 August 2020 at www.graeae.org.
Commenting on the production, Graeae’s artistic director Jenny Sealey said: “I am so very happy that we’re able to make the 2017 production of our beloved – and most well-known show Reasons To be Cheerful available to watch online.
“We’ve now staged the full show in the UK three times, toured the concert version round the world and had the cast perform ‘Spasticus Autisticus’ in front of the Queen at the London 2012 Paralympic Opening Ceremony, but this is the first time it’s ever been available online in full. These are strange and unsettling times we’re living in, and we’ve never needed a Reason to be Cheerful more. Huge thanks to the cast, creative team and of course the fabulous Blockheads for allowing us to do this.”
Ian Dury’s daughter Jemima Dury added: “Graeae’s Reasons To Be Cheerful has been part of my life for ten years now and I am overjoyed that it is going to be available online because when it’s not in production – I miss it!
“This is an exceptional cast of performers in a truly diverse and accessible show and is everything I love about fresh, forward thinking, inclusive theatre. I have no doubt that the show is going to virtually explode with energy from screens all over the world just like it brought the houses down with rapturous applause and standing ovations on every tour date since the autumn of 2010. This is a wonderful tonic for tough times. I’m very excited. Enjoy!”
The release of Reasons To Be Cheerful follows on from the 11-week digital programme Crips Without Constraints – A Play, A Podcast, A Picture which launched in April across Graeae’s website and Facebook pages.
Celebrate the creativity of Deaf and disabled artists across the nation, Crips Without Constraints is due to come to an end in the middle of next month.
Angela Thomas
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