HORA Theatre raises the public’s awareness of mental disabilities, and provides people suffering from disabilities with a platform for self-realisation and creative expression. In addition to the performance, a workshop entitled “Into the Wild” was held between 15 and 19 March by the members of the HORA theatre.
Created by choreographer Jerome Bel, the 90-minute-long Disabled Theatre begins with the actors – aged 24-46, and seated on the stage – presenting themselves one by one, providing name, age and profession, which is “actor” for all of them.
Then, again taking centre stage individually, the actors begin to describe their disability in a few sentences. Some mention aspects such as hyperactivity, communication frustration, problems with attention, memorisation or learning deficiencies, compulsive and/or obsessive behavioural traits, while others reveal how the community, be it the closest family or a larger social circle responds to their disability, and how at times they feel emotionally alienated or misunderstood.
We soon discover that the various behavioural and social aspects surrounding their lives being depicted are but different components of the same condition: Trisomy 21, a genetic disorder popularly known as Down’s syndrome.
