Director
and Producer, Stephanie Upsall -
I am taking a show up to the Edinburgh Festival this summer. It's
called Head Over Wheels. We are a cast of 5 able bodied and
2 disabled actors and 2 main musicians.
HEAD OVER
WHEELS – musical comedy proving, finally, that disability can
be irrelevant. 45 minutes of love, friendship and lust, quirky humour,
irreverence and poignancy. The secrets are in the songs, the action’s
in the pub and not everyone’s naked!
I am taking
this show with "mixed ability actors" as it is what I want
to do in the future, set up a theatre company for all: abled and disabled.
I need to see if I can cope and that it will work.
We're trying
to promote various things, one is disabilities. Our show suggests: disabled
or not, we all have the burning desire to be accepted, for who we really
are.
Due to
having 2 wheelchair users: Ellie and Rory, our costs of taking this
show up is increased by about £8,000 due to needing disabled accommodation
and transport etc.
Dame Judi
Dench has given us £1000 towards it and Richard Stilgoe £2000,
which is amazing! Though there is much further to go!
We are
performing in CToo from 2nd - 27th August so if you can, come and see
it!!
The
Show -
“HEAD OVER WHEELS – musical comedy proving, finally,
that disability can be irrelevant. 45 minutes of love, friendship and
lust, quirky humour, irreverence and poignancy. The secrets are in the
songs, the action’s in the pub and not everyone’s naked!”
This is
the 40 word blurb which will go in the Fringe Magazine and all publicity
materials.
Here we
have seven friends in the pub who are all in their last few weeks of
university. They have all met up because Ricki wants to tell them all
something very important: though they are unaware that he wants their
attention. Everyone has so much to talk about and there are so many
things which need to be said, but don’t. There is a passing of
two weeks where everyone goes through big personal changes. They meet
up when all their exams are over and wonder what they will do next.
The show
is all about how everybody has secrets and insecurities and ends with
all the characters, despite their differences, being accepted for who
they are. Their songs explain to the audience what their secrets are.
Each character has a different style of song to match their personality.
“Fast
moving, thought provoking musical comedy piece about a whole load of
contentious issues. This cast of equals – some disabled, some
not – are in their final year at uni and meet regularly in the
pub to take the mickey out of each other. One by one, they join the
band to tell their stories, sing out their worries, and to propose possible
solutions. They each hope to sort their lives out before leaving the
cocooned world of university, and want their peers to understand them:
as they really are, not how they seem. Appearances can be so deceiving.”
“This
talented pack of performers sing, dance and act their way through a
miasma of emotions in a variety of styles. All the action and chat takes
place in the pub where there is, conveniently, a live band. Each musical
composition is completely different from the others – as are the
characters. We have rock, blues, gospel, pop, barber shop and a rousing
finale anthem. Over a two-week period, all of the individuals’
issues are resolved – with a little help from their friends –
and sometimes with astounding results.”
We don’t
want to tell you too much about the show so it’s a surprise when
you watch it!
Fundraising
-
Beyond the inevitable costs of hiring the venue, publicizing the show
and living for a month in Edinburgh we have found that the costs are
significantly exaggerated by the needs of our two disabled actors, Rory
(cerebral palsy) and Ellie (severe spinal injury). Instead of the estimated
total of £9,000 it should cost us for this venture, it is going
to be closer to double that amount because we have to pay for disabled
access accommodation. We want Rory and Ellie to stay with us, rather
than in a hotel while we are in a cheap flat, and to be close enough
to town to be independent because it is only fair to them. It is not
acceptable that they should be made to feel like a burden because of
the cost of accessible accommodation or that a show promoting disabled
equality and dispelling embarrassing myths could be in jeopardy because
of the extortionate size of that cost.
The
whole company are completing a 26 mile marathon across London on the
2nd June 2007. This is so we can raise money for our show.
News!
We did the walk
on Saturday 2nd June. It was hard hard work. We started at Kingston
at 9am and finished at Albert Bridge at 9pm. We only managed 20miles
as we came across several problems: The pathway was nearly all gravel,
which is not the best thing for wheelchairs; it was blazing hot; we
had to keep taking big detours due to needing to find accessible toilets
and the path kept being cut off by building works. All in all, I think
you’d agree 20miles under those circumstances really isn’t
bad! We were all very proud of ourselves. Though we went through emotional
roller coasters! Our feet are covered in blisters and walking is seeming
to be problematic!
It was hard but
we’re glad we did it!
So THANK YOU to
all those who sponsored us!
WE DID LOOK RIDICULOUS, LOOK AT THE PHOTOS!
We need all the
help we can get. As a cast and crew we are doing all we can to find
money to make this show happen.
We are working for
free at the British Grand Prix in July in exchange for a donation.
We also have the
support of some fantastic people such as Richard Stilgoe himself, Dame
Judi Dench and Michael Aspel. However, we are still a long way from
our target. If you can help in any way, whether in the form of a donation,
of putting us in touch with any contacts you think may be able to help
us, or of simply sponsoring us in our very long walk I would be hugely
grateful. As an added incentive, everyone who pledges more than £15
towards the walk will be entered into a prize draw with the chance to
win some fantastic prizes:
* A long weekend
in a lovely cottage in Derbyshire.
* A helicopter ride over Oxford.
* A holiday in Italy.
* A ride in the only military truck converted limo in the UK!
* and lastly, all of the alcohol and vouchers various companies have
donated.
Thank you again
for taking the time to read this, if you think you can help please get
in touch with me at the email address phanny_up@hotmail.com.
I have set up a business bank account which requires two signatures
on any outgoing money, so if you chose to donate or to sponsor us you
can transfer the money if that’s easiest. So get in touch and
I’ll give you the bank details.
OR...
You can sponsor
us online through PayPal, it is very safe and very easy to do. You do
not need an account to access PayPal.
To sponsor
us using paypal simply click here.
Drummer
Wanted!!
We need someone who is a competent drummer to play in the show.
We're performing in London on the 26th and 27th July and then on the
30th we'll pay for you to get to Edinburgh. We start performing on the
2nd August and finish on the 27th. We will provide accommodation too!
We are performing at 4.30pm everyday and flyering before
each show to get bums on seats. but apart from that, you will be quite
free to do as you please.
You'll be able to see all of cvenues shows for free
- over 200!
Edinburgh is remarkable at this time of the year and
this is an opportunity which shouldn't be missed...
So, get in touch if you are vaguely interested and we'll
talk about everything.
We'd need you to be with us for some rehearsals, so
the very latest would be the 23rd July, but if you can be with us before
that then that would be amazing.
Please think about it, or if you know anyone??
There are lots of different types of songs: Gospel,
Blues, Rock, Jazz, Barbershop Quartet etc.
GET IN TOUCH!! phanny_up@hotmail.com
_______________________________________________
Click here
for more information about Head Over Wheels and Morpheus Theatre Productions.
