Canberra's newest actors' company, REBUS Theatre, was formed last year to raise awareness of social issues and promote equality for people living with disabilities. And now, having performed at a peak arts and disabilities event in Sydney, it's ready for bigger things.
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REBUS performed the play A Day in the Life at the Arts Activated 2014 conference in an interactive or forum style. It is set in an office and public places and is performed by actors with and without disabilities.
Associate producer and actor Ben Drysdale says, "We do a 10-minute show and during the show all the characters are behaving terribly and there are horrible outcomes for many characters. We do it again and the second time when the audience sees something that could be done differently someone calls out 'Stop!', and comes up and takes over one of the actors' roles."
They then react differently in order to change the outcome in the situation.
REBUS has a couple of different plays in its repertoire – another is Unintended, set in a public service workplace – dealing with the challenges faced by people with mental health issues, hearing impairment and Down syndrome. The scenarios vary – the action might take place in a cafe, at a bus stop, for example – but the aim is the same: to educate participants about the experience of people with disabilities and the challenges they face interacting with people without disabilities, and how the latter can help when needed without being patronising,
"It's a training device," Drysdale says.
And the reactions have been very positive.
"People like it because it's interactive, a way to practise in a safe, non-threatening environment," Drysdale says.
"They really do get into it."
The company deliberately creates incidents that will make people cringe so they will want to get up and change them.
REBUS began last year when disability information service Nican applied for an ACT Government Innovations Grant.
"They wanted to get people together."
Robin Davidson came on board as artistic director and a group of 10 people was assembled, half with disabilities, half without. One has since departed and the nine members of the company perform theatre as equity training in the forum theatre style developed in Brazil by Augusto Boal.
Drysdale says, "There are no theatre groups just like ours in Australia, none that we're aware of."
An actor and musician, Drysdale, 32, has worked with disability theatre classes through Belconnen Community Services. He thinks there are a lot of people with disabilities who don't often get the chance to show off their creativity, and REBUS Theatre is one avenue for this.
Besides performing in Sydney at the recent conference REBUS Theatre has performed in Melbourne, Coffs Harbour and New Zealand.
"We have a couple of shows coming up at the ACT Department of Health – a test drive before they roll it out to the rest of the staff."
While their focus has been on government environments they are open to other possibilities – corporate, school and public performances. Anyone interested in REBUS Theatre can email producer Cara Matthews at info@rebustheatre.com.
