EYE MUSIC Begins 23 May at State Opera Studio

Inclusive arts organisation Tutti is presenting an inspirational and thought-provoking new production in May, based on the life of young Adelaide man, Jeremy Hartgen: EYE MUSIC.

Opening at the State Opera Studio in Netley on Friday 23 May, EYE MUSIC combines communication technology and live theatre to explore how Jeremy changed his world and the people in it to take charge of the Big Stuff in his life.

Jeremy, who was a member of the Tutti Performing Arts Program and renowned Tutti Choir between 2000 and 2006, lived with a disability that left him unable to speak or reliably control anything but his eyes. As such, Jeremy's eyes were his method of communication, and the title EYE MUSIC reflects this. To communicate, he used the 500 symbols on his 'Bliss board' and a Liberator communication device. In Jeremy's own words: "Without the Bliss board, no-one would have known I had a brain. I would have been treated like an eternal baby."

Despite his profound disability, Jeremy wanted to change the world for people like himself. Issues such as access to specialised equipment, support services, and the right to refuse interventions which kept people alive when they'd had enough, were very important to Jeremy. He also cared greatly about a range of social and political issues.

EYE MUSIC will take audiences into a confrontational world without speech or movement. The clever use of projections and music will show audiences what it is to live with sharp awareness and intelligence within a profoundly disabled body. The amazing projections used in this work will allow the audience to explore Jeremy's ideas in a non-literal way that does justice to his imagination. They gradually reveal the decisions he faced around power, money, sex and religion, and ultimately, life and death.

VENUE: State Opera Studio, 216 Marion Rd, Netley

TIX: $25/$20 conc. BOOK HERE: www.trybooking.com/EJMF

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