Disability on Stage

Joeita Gupta:
I'm Joeita Gupta, and this is The Pulse.
I'm not much of an actor, though I adore theatre. My sole claim to fame was playing a tree in a high school production. But I've always admired actors, their ability to channel someone else and convincingly portrayed times and places other than our own. Though it's provided me an escape, nonetheless until quite recently, I thought of the theatre as an elitist space. And I am ashamed to admit that until quite recently, I also thought that actors, especially those in large-scale productions, had to be able-bodied people. Fortunately, actors with disabilities are approving my assumptions wrong every day, taking on a range of complex performances with sensitivity and tenacity, and in so doing forever, changing the definition of art and redefining who belongs in theatre. Today we discuss accessibility in theatre. It's time to put your finger on, the pulse.
Hello and welcome to The Pulse on AMI-audio. I'm Joeita Gupta and I'm really excited to be joining you as I always do. From Accessible Media Studios in Toronto. My hair is in a ponytail today. I have a pair of black headphones, they're over the ear, and I'm wearing a shirt with three-quarter-length sleeves and a square neck. It's red and black with stripes.
My guest today is a veteran actor, performer, playwright, and director, and is being featured in this season's productions of Grand Magic and Richard II at the Stratford Festival. Debbie Patterson joins me for the very first time on the program. Debbie, hello and welcome to The Pulse. I'm so pleased we have a chance to talk today.

Debbie Patterson:
Hi, I am so happy to be here today.

Joeita Gupta:
Debbie, how did you get into acting and theatre?

Debbie Patterson:
I started when I was quite young doing school plays and that sort of thing. And then just after high school I went to the National Theater School to study acting and performing. I left there in the mid '80s and I moved to Winnipeg and started a Shakespeare company, an outdoor Shakespeare company called Shakespeare In The Ruins. And I worked with that company for a number of years and then developed MS and thought I had to retire from the stage, 'cause I didn't know any other physically disabled performers who were working in theatre. So I stopped for a little while, but then I started again.

Joeita Gupta:
And what was that transition like for you? Did you have to rethink how you went about acting, or did you have to make changes to your technique? Or did you have to think about redefining or changing the environment to make it more inclusive for you as an actor with a disability?

Debbie Patterson:
I realized at a certain point that I was walking using a cane and then using crutches and now I'm a full-time wheelchair user. But when I was first walking with a cane, I realized that there was actually something really compelling about the way I move. Where all my theatre school training was very, very focused on becoming extremely versatile physically and vocally so that you could embody any character, and I thought that that's what I needed to be able to do in order to be an actor.
But when I started exploring the way I moved rather than rejecting it or feeling shame about it or feeling like it was a problem, approaching the changes in my body with curiosity instead, it allowed me to discover what was there that was actually useful and compelling and would work well on stage, I guess. So, for me, that was the transition artistically, was I had to stop trying to hide my disability or work around my disability and instead welcome my disability as an important aspect of my artistic exploration. And that's when it really kind of blossomed for me in terms of what I wanted to do as an artist.

Joeita Gupta:
And what did you want to do as an artist? Did the kinds of projects you take on evolve as your body evolved and as your artistic practice evolved?

Debbie Patterson:
So at first I thought I had to stop performing, so I began developing more as a playwright and a director. And both of those things have been really useful going forward. And then discovering that the body I was in told a story that was important and useful in our world, changed the way I approached the work I do. So I started creating my own work more and doing more writing and kind of deciding what story I wanted to tell. Usually, when you're an actor, you just wait for theatres to program shows, and then you audition for those shows. And if you're chosen, that's the story you're telling. It's not as intentional in terms of storytelling.
So I decided to be more intentional about my storytelling, and I wrote stories and plays that would explore the experience of living in this body. And what I discovered through that too was that I discovered the narratives around disability in our culture are quite limited. And I think that's because disabled people have been kept out of our storytelling mediums for so long, and so often disability is treated as a problem that needs to be solved. And so a plot has to resolve with the removal of the disability. If that's the problem, then the problem has to be removed. So the removal of the disability usually means a miracle cure or the death of the disabled character. And that doesn't serve me as a disabled person. It's not a story I want to hear or that helps me learn how to be human. Because all of us have bodies that are flawed and don't always live up to what we want, I think that this lived experience of disability holds something quite universal about what it means to be human that isn't being explored in our theatre or our other storytelling media.

Joeita Gupta:
A lot of companies will put on productions of Shakespeare, and I will confess that I've read Shakespeare, but never really considered it through the lens of disability. Which is a mortifying admission to admit to because I'm a person with a disability, but there you go. But you've had this outdoor Shakespeare company in Winnipeg, Shakespeare In The Ruins. When you think about Shakespeare's writing and handling of disability, what's your analysis?

Debbie Patterson:
The worldview of people during Shakespeare's time was so different from ours because I think the industrial revolution changed everything in terms of capitalism, and capitalism and ableism are so intricately tied together because our worth, as humans, is so much predicated on our ability to produce or to contribute to society by holding down a job which actually is just contributing to the wealth of the person who probably already has enough wealth, but that aside. So much of our ableism in our culture now is tied to our complete absorption in a capitalist ideal. And so it's hard to understand how people approach disability in other times.
But when I read... For example, Richard the III is the show that most focuses on disability because the central character is a person with a disability. And so often it's performed or interpreted as an evil twisted mind in an evil twisted body and that's why he's so horrible. But I believe that's a contemporary take on the character. When you actually read it it's more of a disability revenge story. That this person who is very capable and who has been contributing equally with his brothers to the advancement of the family, is being ignored and neglected and not benefiting at all from all the work he's put into supporting his family. And so he seeks revenge on his brothers for treating him so badly throughout his life, and that's all he sets out to do. At the beginning that's all he says he's going to do. When he gets power, he realizes that that power has to be maintained through true brutality and is then forced to become brutal and has a reckoning with his conscience at the end, which is quite moving.
So he's not evil and twisted from the beginning. He's not a character beyond redemption from the very beginning. He's a person with a disability who has been neglected and overlooked and ignored and taken for granted.

Joeita Gupta:
And whose character evolves as well. I mean, he's not just a static one-dimensional character, which is often what you see in more contemporary portrayals of people with disabilities. There's a degree of nuance there that I think we've lost out on subsequent depictions of people with disabilities. If I'm not much mistaken, you had actually had a chance to consult on the production of Richard III at the Stratford Festival as a dramaturge. What exactly does that role entail and what did you do in your capacity?

Debbie Patterson:
So I worked with the actor who was playing Richard, who was not disabled, and talk to him about my lived experience of disability and how different things that people say affect me, just how I interact with the world because of my disability or through my disability. But I also worked with the director to highlight areas in the text that I thought spoke to disability, even in stage directions or when at the end of a scene, Richard says, "You go ahead and I'll follow," and maybe he knows that he can't walk as fast as they can. He doesn't want the humiliation of having people waiting for him or doesn't want people to watch him-

Joeita Gupta:
Or show vulnerability.

Debbie Patterson:
Yes. Exactly. I also worked with all the other actors in the production because the actor playing Richard III is a very high-status member of the artistic community, and I wanted to make sure they weren't treating him as a high-status person at the beginning of the play. At the beginning of the play. Richard is a nobody. He becomes king, but nobody sees it coming because he's disabled. What can he possibly accomplish? They're operating from their own assumptions about disability, and he uses that assumption to take them by surprise in a way.

Joeita Gupta:
Exactly. And of course, as you say, no one saw it coming. Now you're performing again. You are performing in two plays in this Stratford season. Tell us a little bit about the plays you're performing in and what roles you're specifically taking on.

Debbie Patterson:
Sure. So I'll talk about Grand Magic first. It's a play by Eduardo De Filippo. It's an amazing script that it's so hard to describe because it's unlike any other play I've ever been part of. The structure of it is so unusual, but for my role, I'm at the very beginning, I'm in the first act, which takes place in a resort in near Naples. At the beginning of the play I'm playing cards on the patio with two other women and my daughter, and we're gossiping about the other people at the resort. And we basically do all the exposition and set up the whole play. We talk about different themes that will be relevant later in the play. It's almost like a prologue that sets up everything that's going to come.
What I love about it is that the character is not written as a disabled person. She just happens to be a very wealthy woman from Naples who's at a resort with her daughter, enjoying the fresh air, enjoying the company of her friends and having a laugh. And it's never commented on, it's never highlighted, it just is. Which is what I love about it, that it just gets to be the characters given circumstances. It's not a problem. It's not an issue that needs to be solved. It just is.

Joeita Gupta:
And that's really powerful because it's time we had that shift in our thinking about disability where it didn't receive the spotlight in productions where everybody was pointing to it and focused on it, that it just was. I mean, for a long time we've had women playing men in the theatre, and now it's not really commented upon in the way that it was when the practice first began. What about your other production? Tell me a little bit more about your role. You're paying the Duchess of York.

Debbie Patterson:
The big scene that I have, my son's committed a treason and his father is going to the king to out him, to accuse him so that he will be executed. And I'm going to the king to petition on his behalf to plead for his life, basically.
So in that role, I go to the king and I make a speech about how I'm going to, I'm on my knees and I'm going to say on my knees, I'll never stand up. I'll never get up from my knees until you pardon my son. And he pardons him. And so in order to do that because I'm in a wheelchair and I can't get in and out of the chair unassisted, there are these angel characters who are part of the whole aesthetic of the production, who are sort of Richard's angels. And so they support me in getting up out of the chair and onto my knees and then getting back into the chair.

Joeita Gupta:
That's really powerful.

Debbie Patterson:
So it's almost as if the forces of Richard's love for my son are helping me petition the king, save his life.

Joeita Gupta:
Sorry, you'll excuse an ignorant question, but are the angels a part of the original script, or was that written in this interpretation?

Debbie Patterson:
That's written in. That's a directorial concept.

Joeita Gupta:
That's fascinating. That is really fascinating. In terms of what we see on the stage... And look, I mean, I love going to Stratford. I go up just about every summer. I haven't been able to this summer, I'm sad to say. But it's a great place to go if you're someone who's visually impaired. They have a very generous program to support someone coming with a guide. They give you the opportunity to sit up front. It's really quite welcoming to a patron with a disability in a lot of ways. What's it been like as an actor with a disability? What's the behind-the-scenes like?

Debbie Patterson:
Well, the Tom Patterson Theatre is brand new, it's only the second season. And so it was built with access in mind, unlike most theatres. So the entire building is completely accessible. There's an elevator that takes you up to the level where the grid is, where the lighting is.

Joeita Gupta:
Oh wow. That's so cool.

Debbie Patterson:
The only room that isn't accessible is the trap room, which is the room under the stage. So if an actor's entering up through the trap door in the stage, that's inaccessible. But it's accessible if you go down the trap, because that's like a little elevator. So it's the only room that isn't accessible is the trap room. But everything else is completely accessible. And while I've been there, they've installed more door openers and grab bars in my dressing room and in different places for me to use.

Joeita Gupta:
But we know access is more than grab bars and door openers and ramps. It was funny, I can't remember which one it was, was it Of Mice and Men, I think. And we had gone to watch a protection of Mice and Men, and then we'd gone to the Tim Hortons for a coffee and there was the actor riding off on his bike. And I think sometimes we lose track of the fact that actors actually live in Stratford too. And you're there for months rehearsing and putting on a performance. Both your productions will be running from June to September. You are going to be at Stratford for a good long time. What sort of community is it to live in? How accessible is it?

Debbie Patterson:
Well, it's pretty accessible. Although, like any town, the wheelchair transit situation is not great because it's in so much demand and so underfunded that if you want to make sure you can get somewhere, you have to book your rides a week in advance. And it's certainly not convenient for running errands, or if your rehearsal schedule changes or if anything changes it's not convenient. So I did have to buy a van in order to be here, but otherwise, I'm finding the town quite accessible.

Joeita Gupta:
And I also find that people are really friendly. Is it just me? Maybe because I'm a visitor, maybe they're nice to me because I'm just in and out. But I've actually find that people are really friendly and warm in Stratford, which at least as from my perspective as a person with a disability makes a huge difference. Even if things aren't always accessible, if people are friendly and they're willing to try and work with you, that can really be a game changer.

Debbie Patterson:
Yeah, it can. You're right, they are very friendly and very welcoming. Almost all the businesses have ramps that you can get in and out of their building. If their washroom isn't accessible, they usually know where there is one that's accessible and have a relationship with another business owner where you can use their washroom.

Joeita Gupta:
I'm really curious because I admire the actors who perform at Stratford. I am so blown away. What does a typical day look like for you?

Debbie Patterson:
Oh, right now it's pretty smooth. So right now I'm in performances. So when I have a show, it's about five hours. I go to the theatre at least an hour and a half early, and I do a vocal warmup, and then I have a wig and makeup and costume, and then we do the show. And both my shows are quite long. They're both almost, well, two and a half or a little more, two and a half hours or a little longer. Yeah, sometimes I have two shows in one day, which makes for a long day. Usually, I just have one show a day.

Joeita Gupta:
That's not so bad. I mean, the tough bit is behind you, right? The rehearsing, the memorizing lines. That bit is done. Now, I wanted to ask you a bit about wardrobe, because the wardrobes are absolutely beautiful and so elaborate. Did they need to make any modifications to the wardrobe for you once you started to play the two roles that you're playing?

Debbie Patterson:
Well, I'll talk about the wheelchairs first because I don't use my own chair in the shows.

Joeita Gupta:
Oh, really?

Debbie Patterson:
Yeah. Well, Grand Magic is set in the '50s. So I have an old-fashioned wooden wheelchair with the turning casters at the back and the big wheels at the front, sort of the opposite of a contemporary wheelchair. And a lot of adjustments had to be made to that chair to make it usable, just because it was designed for a person to be pushed around primarily and to maybe make adjustments, but generally to be pushed around by someone else. So that chair had to go through a number of adjustments, and I worked together with the props crew to create a chair that would be perfect for me.
And then in Richard III, I used a contemporary chair, but we originally wanted to lift me up in the chair and have some kind of spinning wheels while I was up in the air. And that ended up not working out just in terms of the time it took to achieve that look. So we didn't end up doing that. So it's a contemporary chair, it's much like my own. But it doesn't have my cup holder and my backpack and the road dirt that my chair has.

Joeita Gupta:
And what about the actual wardrobe, the costumes?

Debbie Patterson:
Yes. So for Richard III I have these beautiful boots that were made for me. So I wear an AFO on one of my feet. Just it helps me keep my foot on the footrest of my wheelchair. And when I don't have it on my foot is-

Joeita Gupta:
Sorry. What is an AFO?

Debbie Patterson:
Oh, sorry. An ankle foot orthotic. It keeps my foot bent at a 90-degree angle so that my toe doesn't point, and that helps keep my foot on the footrest. So I'm not wearing my AFO in the shows because it's not aesthetically pleasing. So I had boots built for Richard II, which are amazing. And I don't get to wear boots anymore because of my AFO, so it's pretty thrilling to have these gorgeous, shimmery silver boots that I get to wear.

Joeita Gupta:
Are they going to let you take those home with you?

Debbie Patterson:
I don't know. I'm going to ask for sure.

Joeita Gupta:
That's amazing. Hey, it sounds like it's been a lot of fun and I wish you all the best with both your productions, I know they're wrapping up at the end of September. And I hope to have a chance to come down to Stratford and check you out in person.

Debbie Patterson:
Great. I would love to see you here.

Joeita Gupta:
That was Debbie Patterson, actor, playwright, and director who appears in Richard II and Grand Magic, both put on by the Stratford Festival. That's all the time we have for today. If you have any feedback for us, you can write us at feedbackaami.ca. Give us a call at 1-866-509-4545. That's 1-866-509-4545. Don't forget to leave permission to play the audio on the program. You can also find us on Twitter at AMI Audio. Use the hashtag Pulse AMI. And if you want to find me on Twitter, I'm at Joeita Gupta.
The videographer today has been Matthew McGurk. Marc Aflalo is technical producer. Ryan Delehanty is coordinator for podcasts at AMI Audio. Andy Frank is manager at AMI Audio. I've been your host, Joeita Gupta. Thanks for listening.