Created from verbatim interviews and shaped with music, physical theatre, and passive aggression, Have you tried yoga? explores what it’s like being disabled when surrounded by empty gestures, echoing platitudes and wannabe heroes.
Have you tried yoga? probes the world of many characters as they navigate their way through the discrimination and challenges of daily life, and is the result of unintended immersive research, alongside community interviews and submissions.
This partly autobiographical production is created and performed by Rachel Edmonds, a local disabled actor, and comes to Melbourne Fringe off the back of a sold-out Adelaide Fringe season. Rachel has worked carefully to create a journey through text, music, dance and sound, taking the show further than dialogue to make it personal for everyone in the audience.
Edmonds is joined in performance by fellow 2016 National Theatre Drama School graduate Martin Astifo. Have you tried yoga? is an opportunity to see the disabled/chronically ill community represented authentically on stage.
“I made this show because I was exhausted of the constant comments from people trying to cure me, or dismiss me, or manage me,” says Edmonds. “Writing, producing and performing a show seemed so much easier than explaining myself for the hundredth time.”
“Edmonds is a skilled and astute performer. She has a wonderful immediacy… Edmonds never slips into mawkishness. She knows the power of humour in storytelling, and uses lightness with great effect.” – Adelaide Theatre Guide
Have You Tried Yoga?
Bluestone Church Arts Space, 8A Hyde Street, Footscray
Season continues to 30 September 2018
Information and Bookings: www.melbournefringe.com.au
Image: Rachel Edmonds (supplied)