RIGHT OF WAY Tours to the South West UK in March 2024

RIGHT OF WAY, written while walking the South West Coast Path, is an embodied story of joy: of choosing to walk, to grow, and to reclaim space. A 5 star, award-nominated new play, exploring disability, chronic illness, and Young Carers, touring alongside creative workshops for Young Carers.

Half submerged in a cramped bathtub, and flooded by her grief, Beth decides to walk the South West Coast Path - in choosing to walk, grow, and to reclaim space, she finds radical joy. Using lyrical movement and projections of the Coast Path, RIGHT OF WAY explores our intimate connection with the coastline, bodies of water and our heritage. Written while walking the South West Coast Path, it is an autobiographical and embodied reflection on disability, chronic illness, and being a Young Carer. RIGHT OF WAY features integrated creative captioning as part of the video design.

Fresh from a 5 star, award-nominated run at VAULT Festival, in partnership with Devon Young Carers, the South West Coast Path Association, and Arts and Culture Exeter. Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

RIGHT OF WAY was first created as part of the VAULT 5 programme, premiering at VAULT Festival in February 2023 - and was nominated for the Show of the Week award. Now, amidst the start of the Covid Inquiry, RIGHT OF WAY remounts for a South West Tour. The work will premiere at the Exeter Phoenix, with a post-show panel featuring local artists and academics.

The Covid Inquiry has already begun to expose the failures and prejudice of the UK Government in relation to vulnerable, older, and disabled people during the pandemic. Beth comments:

"It remains increasingly important to spotlight the many hidden and devastating impacts of COVID-19 and governmental failures: from the NHS backlog, the deaths of vulnerable people, the 13,000 children who have lost a parent to COVID, to the isolation experienced by many clinically vulnerable people and their families."

RIGHT OF WAY also focuses more broadly on ever-decreasing benefits, cultural stereotypes of disability, and the mental health impacts of being a Young Carer. In Devon alone, there are an estimated 75,000+ adult Carers, and 2 - 3 young carers in every classroom. Although sharply focused on these issues, RIGHT OF WAY is not a story of defeat or sadness, it is ultimately a story of joy: of choosing to walk, to grow, and to reclaim space. The piece is about the power, perspective and pull of wide-open fields, endless horizons and lapping waves when faced with grief and loss. Beth says:

"Placing my body in the landscape, I wrote about bodies in motion, bodies through illness, bodies as landscapes, and bodies moving through, against and within natural materials. RIGHT OF WAY is experimental with all these elements - a mess created with salt, soil and water, bodies bathed in projected images of the South West's coastal landscape, and chalk carved out onto the floor. We are extremely excited to be touring RIGHT OF WAY to where it was written and created."

RIGHT OF WAY is touring with integrated accessibility measures, including: full creative captioning, integrated with the video design; a portable quiet space; other materials including a sensory & scene breakdown, a post show well-being pack, and a transcript.

Alongside the five venue tour, Beth and Susannah are presenting five workshops for Young Carers from each location in partnership with Devon Young Carers (Westbank). The workshops will explore creative tools including writing skills, theatre devising techniques, and video making methods, aiming to empower them to express themselves and engage with their local landscape in innovative ways. Susannah says:

"The workshops will address barriers Young Carers face, offering them an opportunity to connect with those in similar situations and take a break from their caring roles. Our aim is to provide outlets for creative expression and encourage their engagement in the arts, building upon the success of Westbank's other creative ventures.''

In addition, an online creative community for the project will be launched on Mighty Networks, for anyone to get involved with. On this platform the team will share creative content and activities - aiming to encourage people to walk and experience the Coast Path trail for their wellbeing.

Beth and Susannah work together in a creative partnership specialising in interdisciplinary theatre and live performance. Their practice centres social justice issues, prioritises collaboration, and champions accessibility. They work in established venues, unexpected locations, and community spaces, producing participatory projects that are created for and with communities. They have a keen interest in making work that explores what home and heritage means, responding to site specific locations and provoking a cultivation of radical joy. In all their work they use interdisciplinary techniques - using movement, sound design, natural materials, projection, embodied practice, participation, research and new writing.

Devon Young Carers (Westbank): At Devon Young Carers we work with young people aged 4 to 18 who help look after someone in their family, or a friend, who is ill, disabled or misuses drugs and alcohol. We work to make sure that young carers are supported through our service and others, which can include specialist advice, access to respite opportunities and 1:1 support as identified in an assessment. Westbank Community Health and Care works to empower and improve the health of communities and individuals across Devon.

The South West Coast Path Association is a charity that works to ensure the Path is one of the best walks in the world and protects it for all to enjoy. Supporting the charity and adding a voice as a member helps the South West Coast Path Association to improve the South West Coast Path and keeps the way open to beautiful coastal places. The South West Coast Path National Trail was originally a means for the coastguard to track and pursue smugglers and continues to provide access to 630 miles of stunning coastal scenery from Minehead to Poole. As a designated National Trail, representing the finest walking routes in Britain, it is the country's longest and most popular walk and is considered among the World's Great Hikes. With two World Heritage Sites, Five Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and one National Park, it's a journey along one of the most diverse coastal landscapes in the world where no two days walking it are ever the same.

Arts and Culture Exeter: The Arts and Culture team's work spans the University of Exeter's four campuses and surrounding communities in Devon and Cornwall. They work with the University's community of staff and students, as well as creative practitioners, and South West cultural organisations, to help strengthen creative networks, raise the profile of creativity at the University and foster interdisciplinary collaborations.

Tour Dates

Exeter Phoenix, Exeter | 11 March 2024

The Poly, Falmouth | 15 March 2024

Taunton Brewhouse, Taunton | 22 March 2024

Beaford Arts, Bridge Chambers, Barnstaple | 27 March 2024 

The Wardrobe Theatre, Bristol | 28 March 2024

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