Guest Blog: 'I Never Intended to Go Back to Acting': Graeae's Artistic Director Jenny Sealey on Secrets, Curiosity and Her Own Show, SELF-RAISING

I have been the artistic director of Graeae since 1997, but I was an actor with the company in 1987. It was at the audition I realised I had finally met my tribe- a room full of deaf and disabled people who absolutely owned who they were and from that moment so did I.

My role as director has been placing deaf, disabled and neurodivergent actors centre stage, as well as coining the term ‘aesthetics of access’ where sign language, creative caption and audio description are seamlessly woven into the narrative, the design and the performance.

It is an extraordinary way to work as a director, but slightly pressurised when you are an actor as you embody access for an audience and you want to get it so right.

I had a taste of my own medicine building the aesthetics into my one woman show Self-Raising – and the reality that if you mess up your lines, a sighted hearing audience will know from the captions being out of sync.

I had never intended to go back to acting. I was going to be doing an adaption of a children’s book for a new family show. I was part of The Egg in Bath Incubator programme which gave me creative space to start exploring the book and getting feedback and ideas from the other artists who were part of the same programme exploring their projects.

Over dinner, we shared stories of our lives. It is rare that I have access to dinner table chat but I had my interpreter with me so I felt emboldened to join in. After sharing, possibly oversharing, one artist asked ‘Jenny is your story going to be in your show?’ I said "Goodness NO." and the artistic director of The Egg said "OH YES". And she was right. It all changed in to my own narrative and that of my family and how secrets suddenly explode open at the weirdest of times and the impact that has had on me and my siblings.

My family gave me their blessing to do this show and they are, as is my son, very much (in spirit) with me on stage and this has given me the confidence to do it. The emotional landscape feels tough sometimes and my biggest challenge is how to hold the audience and make them feel safe. I break down the fourth wall as soon as the show starts and it is constant communication with people, asking questions and to reflect on things. There is a fun bit of everyone learning a sign! Not a rude sign which is what most people learn when they first learn sign language.  

I think the main take away is for people to remember to ask questions and be curious about their lives, their families lives as ‘I think all families probably have secrets of some sort’.

Self-Raising runs at Soho Theatre from 6-17 February before touring

To post a comment, you must register and login.