The Expression Unlimited project was funded by Culture 2000 and was the first time Sense Scotland had attracted European funding for an arts project. It was a hugely significant project for the 8 artists and musicians involved - many had never travelled abroad before and although all had some musical or creative abilities - none of the participants had met before or worked on devising and performing a piece of music theatre. The broad aim for the project was to use drama and music to bring deafblind artists from different countries together - encouraging creative expression, networking and friendships.
The group met for the first time in Italy in May 2004 for one week of drama and music workshops. This programme of workshops was led by Clark Crystal (Artistic Director of Edinburgh based Lung Ha's Theatre Company) and Jon Reid, Sense Scotland's Creative Arts Tutor. The aim for the week was to explore ideas and concepts that might be used in the final production. What we didn't expect was the speed with which the group bonded and how quickly ideas came together for the show. By the end of the week, the group had the structure for the entire piece and performed this work to an audience of around 80 individuals at the hotel where we were staying.
Over the summer, individuals were encouraged to work on their particular contribution to the piece with their supporting artists. For example, Milena, one of the Italian participants undertook a series of opera singing lessons to enhance her vocal contribution to the show; Croatian performer Marijan, who was given the role of narrating the show in mime, developed and perfected his performance of the story; Mark, one of the Scottish performers worked on improving his dramatic presentation skills with Jon in a series of drama workshops.
The group came together again in Scotland in September 2004 for a 5-day rehearsal period at Glasgow's Gilmorehill G12 Theatre. Despite a 4-month break, the group quickly re-established their roles and friendships and we worked to help them become familiar with the stage set and costumes.
We also had the difficult task of finding cues (lighting, sound, tactile and visual) that worked for each performer.
The group gave 2 sell-out performances of Voyager Princess on Thursday 30th September and over 300 people saw the show. The performer's sense of pride and achievement in their work was evident and the mood after the final show was one of exhiliration.
The department has produced a DVD featuring a documentary about how the project came together and a full version of the perfomance of Voyager Princess at Gilmorehill G12. Copies can be ordered at a cost of £10 (£5 for a VHS version).
(Voyager Princess) "was altogether a very nice experience for me. I had an opportunity to meet deafblind people from different countries...learned to play different instruments and improved my acting a lot" (Marijan Jurenec, Croatia)