Help us bring back to life and public attention, the
achievements, drive, and sheer bloody-mindedness of one of Liverpool’s most
radical radicals, by supporting the first staging of “Unsung”, a new play celebrating
the life of Edward Rushton (1756-1814)
Who? Edward Rushton was an activists’
activist – apprenticed to slave ships at 11, self-educated, blinded in his late teens assisting the African slaves in the hold, he became a campaigner against
slavery and impressment, a champion for human rights, and a thorn in the side
of the establishment. And he was also a poet. Oh, and he founded one of the
first blind schools in the world (in the building that later became the
Merseyside Trade Union, Community and Unemployed resource centre on Hardman
Street)…
What are we doing? We want to stage a
reading of “Unsung”, a play written about Rushton’s life right here in his home
city of Liverpool on 22nd November 2014, the bicentenary of
Rushton’s death. In turn we hope this will lead to a full production at
Liverpool’s Everyman theatre in Spring 2015. We’ve got the Director – Chuck
Mike, a US-born director living in Nigeria (believe us, it’s quite a coup to
get this guy!) – we’ve got the play, we’ve got the actors, and we’ve got the
venue (the historic Bluecoat, hub of all things creative). So we’ve got the
talent sorted, now we need the funds to make it happen…
So what? He’s a Scouse radical, what more
do you want? OK, well 200 years after his death many of the issues he
campaigned about are still with us – either right here on our doorsteps, or in
countries not far away – so his work still has relevance to our lives today. And
for some reason, when his name should be up there in lights as an inspirational
historic figure, he’s been overlooked by
history and by his home city. There is a growing group of people and
organisations in Liverpool that want to address this injustice and re-establish
Rushton as the people’s hero that he was.
Together with our partners, we’re planning a whole series
of other events celebrating Rushton - exhibitions
at the Museum of Liverpool, the International Slavery Museum and the Victoria Gallery & Museum; poetry and visual arts workshops; an international
conference; and a multi-faith thanksgiving celebration. So by being part of
this you’d be standing up for social justice, and be part of a much bigger
movement to make him a household name at the same time.
Where you come in. For the performance to
happen we need your support.
What’s really great about this scheme is that for every
£1 you give us, we can get an extra 67p from the Arts Council’s Catalyst fund –
how’s that for value for money!
But equally as important is your support and interest in
Rushton’s life, and the causes he was so passionate about. By raising funds
from individuals, we want to spread the word about him, and build up a whole
new fan-base for his work and legacy.
If we’re lucky enough to exceed our target, we’ll be able
to put any extra funds towards the full Spring production of the play.
Who’s ‘We’? We are DaDaFest, a professional disability
arts organisation and a registered charity (No. 1014390), based in Liverpool with a
global reach. We promote
high quality disability and deaf arts that promote social justice, through our
multi-artform biennial festival, our young people’s leadership events and our
international partnerships.
We’ve been programming and commissioning audacious disability
arts work since 1984,
pioneering the telling of untold stories, and expanding access to the arts for
disabled people through our example and our influence; launching new disabled
artists onto the scene, and nurturing the talent of the future.
Other ways you can help
You can help us by passing on our
message to friends and family,
If you have a particular skill you
can pledge that may help make the project happen, please contact us.
Follow
us on Twitter @DaDaFest, and retweet us to reach a larger audience.
Any Questions?
email us at info@dadafest.co.uk
Phone us on 0151 707
1733
Text us: 07436 536 200
Tweet us @DaDaFest
Message us on Facebook
Team:
John Graham Davies - Writer
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John has been an actor in the
theatre and on television for over thirty years, and has written widely for the
theatre and radio over the last fifteen years.
James Quinn – Writer
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James has appeared in theatres all
over the country and has written widely, including for the BBC Radio 4 comedy
‘Sir Ralph Stanza’s Letter from Salford’, in which he also played the title
role.
Chuck Mike - Director
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Chuck was born in Brooklyn, New
York and has lived in Nigeria since 1976. He is a distinguished actor,
producer, director and theatre activist of enormous energy. http://www.collectiveartistes.co.uk/chuck-mike
Steve Binns – Historian
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Community historian Stephen Binns
MBE is one of Liverpool's outstanding ambassadors for the city's heritage and
tourism industry. His now legendary tours began in 1990 and he has since
acquired a formidable knowledge of the city's history.
Ruth Gould – DaDaFest Artistic
Director
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Passionate about Disability and
Deaf arts being celebrated as cultural diversities, Ruth established the
festival in 2001. Ruth is from Liverpool and initially trained in performance
arts, speech and drama at Liverpool Theatre School, before performing and
teaching across the world.
@ruffyarts
