New comedy kicks the Special out of Special School

Arts House Specials Kath Duncan photo by Angel Leggas 3FatesMediaIn an Australian first, Specials! – a disability-led play created by a Special School student about Special School, will be presented at Arts House on 8 & 12 October 2024.

Written by researcher Kath Duncan, Specials! is a new comedy created with a cast of disabled actors. Developed for over two months as part of the Arts House The Warehouse Residency program, Specials! will have two showings with an artist talk as part of Arts Centre Melbourne’s Alter State Festival.

Specials! reveals 1960-70s practices and attitudes towards disabled children – it features punk poetry, balloon footy, intimate tests with stopwatches and disabled performers play non-disabled characters.

Duncan says she had a completely rotten experience in Special Education in the late 1960s, “This story is personal. The Special School I attended was literally built on top of an old dump – it was full of low expectations, constant testing and zip constructive education.”

“During my research into Australian Special Education, I realised how ashamed and rageful I was about having to attend this school. Why were we there anyway? It felt like punishment just for being us.”

“As we developed this new work, we discovered so much creative fun out of anger at being locked up. We have enjoyed taking the piss out of  the bosses, nurses and teachers at our schools,” said Duncan.

Specials! is story of two former students bumping into each other as adults outside their Special School, breaking in and time travelling to seek revenge. A disability pride production, Specials! is furious, funny and timely. It is a rally cry and rebellion that centres the voices that have been systemically marginalised for far too long.

Specials! recognises those who gave evidence at the 2023 Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. The government has announced the next 5 years are critical for the existence – or not – of Special Education.

Kath Duncan is a writer, researcher, SuperFreak with a background in electronic journalism. She has written news, unusual features, live comedy, nude disability and amputee fetish performance. Kath produced her one woman show Hi Heartbreak in 2016; led the Australian Research Council project, The Last Avant Garde – Deaf/disability performance around Australia (2018-20) and received the 2020 Creative Australia Ros Bower Award for Community Arts and Cultural Development.

Arts House Acting Artistic Director, Olivia Anderson, says Specials! is a transgressive and exciting work, “Along with our partners at Arts Centre Melbourne – Alter State, we are proud and privileged to work with Kath and her team to present these showings as part of The Warehouse Residency program,” said Anderson.

The Warehouse Residency at Arts House centres and celebrates the development of new creative work led by Deaf and Disabled artists. Now in its fourth year, The Warehouse Residency is open for national submissions between 5 September and 23 October 2024.

Specials! has been commissioned by City of Melbourne through Arts House’s The Warehouse Residency in collaboration with Arts Centre Melbourne – Alter State.


Specials!
Arts House – North Melbourne Town Hall, 521 Queensberry Street, North Melbourne
Performances: 8 & 12 October 2024
Information and Bookings: www.artshouse.com.au

Image: Kath Duncan – photo by Angel Leggas | 3FatesMedia