Artistic Director Jenny Sealey Takes Her Solo Show SELF-RAISING to Soho Theatre and On Tour

Graeae's award winning artistic director Jenny Sealey will bring her acclaimed solo show Self-Raising to Soho Theatre next February before embarking on nine date national tour.  

Having spent a lifetime championing stories by Deaf and disabled artists, Sealey now takes to the road to tell her own story. Unravelling the past and facing the future, Self-Raising is a blisteringly honest, laugh-out-loud one-woman show about growing up deaf in a family with secrets. 

Jenny says, "First Edinburgh, which was wonderful and I left holding many more secrets. Now a tour!! I feel so lucky to be able to share Self-Raising across England and I am looking forward to hearing more secrets!"

Graeae has also launched their brand new website; putting access at the heart of the build. This project was developed with the support of Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Digital Accelerator for Arts and Culture, and built by Cog Design. Graeae’s website is a brand new space that puts you at the centre of the company. Filled with engaging and insightful resources from Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent artists, a full and comprehensive history of the company itself and information on the many ways you can get involved.

Jenny Sealey has been the Artistic Director of Graeae since 1997. She has pioneered a new theatrical language developing the ‘Aesthetics of Access’ as an artistic expression; the creative integration of sign language, captioning and audio description in performance. Her cedits for Graeae include: The Paradis Files an opera; Reasons To Be Cheerful a musical; Sarah Kane’s Blasted; Kaite O’Reilly’s peeling, The House of Bernarda Alba,Blood Wedding  and The Threepenny Opera.  Plays for young people include Diary of an Action Man and Whiter than Snow, both by Mike Kenny. Outdoor productions include Against the Tide, The Iron Man, The Garden, The Limbless Knight – A Tale of Rights Reignited and for the WW1 Centenary This Is Not For You with disabled veterans.

Jenny co-directed the London 2012 Paralympics Opening Ceremony alongside Bradley Hemmings (GDIF). She has been awarded the Liberty Human Rights Arts Award and is an honorary Doctor of Drama at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and Middlesex University and a Fellow of the Central School of Speech and Drama and Rose Bruford College.

Mike Kenny was included in the Independent on Sunday’s list of Top Ten Living UK Playwrights. His plays are performed regularly throughout the UK and all over the world.  He was the first recipient of The Arts Council of England Children’s Award. His adaptation of The Railway Children won the 2011 Olivier Award for Best Entertainment. In 2012 he created a new version of The York Mysteries, and has since worked on the large scale, site sensitive community plays, Blood and Chocolate and In Fog and Falling Snow, and This is Not For You, for Graeae and 14-18-NOW. Most recently, his adaptation of C J Sansom’s Sovereign will be performed by a cast of over 100. He first worked with Jenny Sealey at Red Ladder Theatre in 1988. Work for Graeae includes The Last Freak Show, A Diary of an Action Man, Whiter than Snow’, and this year’s dramatisation for BBC Radio 4 The Chatterleys.

For over 40 years,  GRAEAE has cultivated and championed the best in Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent talent, locally, nationally and internationally. 

Graeae is passionate about igniting artistic curiosity, championing accessibility and providing a platform for new generations of artists through the creation of trail-blazing theatre. It is also a human rights company, founded on the need to tackle social injustice, discrimination and exclusion.

Graeae’s work has been seen in stadiums, theatres, schools, at festivals and streamed online. Recent productions include UK Theatre Award winner ‘The Paradis Files’, ‘Kerbs’, Olivier Award nominated ‘10 Nights’, and two seasons of the digital new work programme ‘Crips without Constraints’. Other work includes the hit Ian Dury musical ‘Reasons to be Cheerful’ and outdoor spectacles ‘The Iron Man’ and ‘This Is Not For You’. In addition to productions, Graeae also runs an extensive programme of training, learning, and creative professional development programmes. Since 1997, Graeae has been run by Jenny Sealey OBE, who also co-directed the London 2012 Paralympic Opening Ceremony. Artistic Director and Joint CEO: Jenny Sealey OBE. Executive Director and Joint CEO: Kevin Walsh. www.graeae.org

Tour Dates

6 – 17 February                                   London                                    Soho Theatre                                            Https://sohotheatre.com/

20 – 21 February                                 Scarborough                       Stephen Joseph Theatre                     Https://sjt.uk.com/

22 – 23 February                                Liverpool                               Liverpool Everyman                              Https://www.everymanplayhouse.com

  

29 Feb – 1 March                                  Derby                                       Derby Theatre.                                       Https://derbytheatre.co.uk/

4 – 5 March                                            Newcastle                             Live Theatre                                             Https://www.live.org.uk

7 – 9 March                                            Colchester                           Mercury Theatre                                   Https://www.mercurytheatre.co.uk 

12 – 13 March                                        Warwick                                 Warwick Arts Centre                           Https://www.warwickartscentre.co.uk

14 March                                                Nottingham                           Nottingham Playhouse                        Https://nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk

19 – 20 March                                        Bristol                                   Tobacco Factory                                    Https://tobaccofactory.com/

22 – 24 March                                        Leeds                                       Leeds Playhouse                                     Https://leedsplayhouse.org.uk

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