A SMALL ENCLOSED ROOM WITH ALFIE MURPHY Comes to the Lowry, Salford Next Month

A Small Enclosed Room with Alfie Murphy will be staged at The Lowry, Salford on Friday 11, 8pm & Saturday 12 October, 2.30pm and 8pm. This dark comedy is a new play which explores the complexities of masking and autistic fantasy. The production was created by renowned autistic artist Cian Binchy (star of ITV’s, The Level) in collaboration with Dublin based Shaun Dunne and Leah Moore. The play also features autistic performer, Anna Constable. 

‘Inside Binchy’s mind is chaotic, noisy, and confusing, but also utterly fascinating and wildly creative. Definitely and defiantly different’ The Guardian

A Small Enclosed Room with Alfie Murphy leads audiences through the various worlds of Cian Binchy’s imagination, combining his signature comedic style with an alternative noughties soundtrack. Alfie, a rockstar turned guru, is one of many made up characters, a shark is another character, all created by Binchy in his surreal world of fantasies, failure and fame. The production explores the question that if the person we show the world is just a mask, what’s really underneath? An authentic self? Or just stories we tell to protect ourselves?

‘It's important to see neurodivergent art made by neurodivergent people as it’s not seen enough. A lot of autistic people struggle with identity and masking and it's important to understand that autistic people can be wearing a mask to fit in with society and might be afraid about showing their true selves. I think it’s good for people to understand how fantasy works in autistic minds and how we shut off the world, and also try to connect with different people using fantasy. This show explores that.’ Cian Binchy

This play is the first in a series of three new co-productions presented by award winning company Access All Areas and The Lowry, created in collaboration with writers Shaun Dunne (“How to Tell a Secret” Netflix) and Leah Moore (“Good Omens” Amazon Prime). The aim is to stage thought-provoking and high quality drama from learning disabled and autistic creatives. 

This exciting new partnership aims to improve representation of excellent learning-disabled led art, putting learning disabled and autistic artists centre stage and in leadership roles. The collaboration will include new productions, co-created with Access All Areas’ Associate Artists, and strengthen The Lowry’s commitment to being accessible and inclusive for learning disabled and autistic audiences and participants.

‘It’s great to welcome back Cian and Access All Areas to the Lowry with A Small Enclosed Room with Alfie Murphy. They are an incredibly exciting company, with a recent show at The Royal Court under their belt, and this production marks the first as a partner organisation. It’s great to be able to kick off with a premiere from Cian and I can’t wait for our audiences to see it’. Matthew Eames, Head of Theatres, The Lowry 

A Small Enclosed Room with Alfie Murphy stars Cian Binchy, an actor, writer, and associate artist of Access All Areas. Theatre includes: The Misfit Analysis (solo show with Access All Areas, Edinburgh Fringe/UK Tour/Mexico Tour with British Council); unReal City (Access All Areas, BAC & Brighton Dome in collaboration with dreamthinkspeak); MADHOUSE re:exit (Access All Areas, Lowry Theatre & Shoreditch Town Hall); Eye Queue Hear (Access All Areas, Rich Mix & UK Tour). Television includes: Grace, Doctors, The Level. Awards include: VAULT Festival People’s Choice Award (The Misfit Analysis). Cian’s consultancy work includes supporting the original development of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” (National). Cian graduated from Access All Areas’ Performance Making Diploma at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

Anna Constable is an Associate Artist of Access All Areas. She graduated from AAA’s Performance Making Diploma at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in 2023. Since graduating, Anna’s credits include ‘Imposter22’ at Royal Court Theatre in 2023.

Director Nick Llewellyn, is the artistic director and Co-CEO at Access All Areas. He founded Access All Areas’ Performance Making Diploma at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, where he is a visiting lecturer. Nick has devised and directed numerous community shows for Access All Areas’ Black Cab Theatre co alongside the company’s professional work, and was previously Artistic Director at Hackney Shed. Theatre includes: unReal City (Access All Areas and dreamthinkspeak/tour), The Interrogation (Access All Areas and Lowry/tour), MADHOUSE re:exit (Access All Areas/tour), The Misfit Analysis (Access All Areas and Cian Binchy/international tour), Eye Queue Hear (Access All Areas/tour), The Trial (Access All Areas and Retz Theatre/tour).

'Cian Binchy has had a long and successful relationship with Access All Areas and this latest production shines a light on masking, autism and mental health in a sensitive but musical and humorous way. We are excited to premiere at The Lowry; this is the first of three outstanding projects by talented learning disabled and autistic artists who will further shake up the arts like true rockstars!' Nick Llewellyn

Co-Creator, Shaun Dunne’ is a film and theatre artist who merges testimony and documentary material with new writing. He is a trained journalist and drama facilitator — with elements of both heavily informing his practice. Recent work includes This Solution (Dublin Theatre Festival), Restoration (Project Arts Centre) and The Waste Ground Party (Methuen Drama, The Abbey Theatre). Other theatre credits include the multi-award winning Death of the Tradesmen, Advocacy, and Making A Mark. Film work includes: The First was a Boy, Iarscoláire and Dúirt Tú (You Said), winning awards at Cork International Film Festival and Dublin International Film Festival. Shaun's films have screened at Raindance Film Festival, Galway Film Fleadh and Kerry International Film Festival. Shaun’s current theatre work includes new plays for The Ark, Rough Magic and The Abbey Theatre. He has been the Engagement and Participation Artist at the Ark for the past five years where he works with responsibility to the Children's Council. In March 2022, Shaun presented his debut documentary feature at Dublin International Film Festival.

Adapted from his theatre show Rapids, How To Tell A Secret was made in collaboration with Anna Rodgers and Invisible Thread Films and was recently acquired by Netflix. This is his second collaboration with Access All Areas following The Interrogation in 2021.

Leah Moore is a writer, director and maker for stage and screen. She began directing at 18 in Dublin’s Smock Alley Theatre. Leah’s debut as a playwright, Wasting Paper, awarded her the Oscar Wilde Award for New Writing at the Dublin International Gay Theatre Festival. From 2015-2019 she was the Artistic Director of SQUAD Productions, a Dublin-based theatre company.

In 2019, Leah started her own production company for screen projects called Imagine All Productions. Leah has a passion for telling stories that include queerness, disability and class.

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