Coronavirus has been affecting us all, but some groups of people are feeling it more than others.

Jo Clifford’s translation of THE HOUSE OF BERNARDA ALBA will be available to stream for free on our YouTube channel from 8am on Monday 22 July

THE HOUSE OF BERNARDA ALBA: PANEL EVENT

How has the lockdown disproportionately affected disabled people across the UK and what does theatre need to do to make space for this community in the future? We are joined by two of the creative team from the production, award-winning Director and disability rights campaigner Jenny Sealey and Associate Director Nickie Miles-Wildin. They will open up the discussion as they talk about both their creative vision for the show and their personal experiences as artists and activists during lockdown.

It is an incredibly tough time for the theatre industry and we need your help now more than ever. These productions have been created by both our fantastically skilled in-house team and brilliantly talented freelance artists. Whilst the majority of our staff are on furlough, so many freelancers, who make theatre happen, are unable to work, and many are falling through the cracks of the government support schemes. With this in mind, any donations made will be split between the Royal Exchange and the artists that worked with us to make these pieces.

To support please visit royalexchange.co.uk/donate or you can donate by text message for each production:

Text 5HOBA to 70470 to donate £5 | Text 10HOBA to 70470 to donate £10 | Text 20HOBA to 70470 to donate £20
For every donation received, 33% will go to the artists and creatives involved in the creation of the production, 33% will go to co-producers Graeae, the UK’s leading theatre company for D/deaf and disabled actors, 33% will go directly to support the Royal Exchange Theatre.

Text is only available on UK networks and will cost your donation amount plus one standard rate message.

Back in our second 2019 workshop playwright Jo Clifford discusses Imagery, Metaphor and Meaning and the role of theatre in engendering empathy.

Jo Clifford 

Jo is the author of over 80 works in every dramatic medium. Her work has been translated into many languages and has been performed all over the world.

Her plays include EVE (co-written with Chris Goode; National Theatre of Scotland), THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE (Traverse Theatre), SEX, CHIPS AND THE HOLY GHOST (Oran Mor), EVERY ONE (Royal Lyceum Theatre), AN APPLE A DAY (Oran Mor/Traverse Theatre), LOSING VENICE, PLAYING WITH FIRE, INES DE CASTRO, LIGHT IN THE VILLAGE (all for Traverse Theatre), TCHAIKOVSKY & THE QUEEN OF SPADES, CHARLES DICKENS: THE HAUNTED MAN (both for Pitlochry Festival Theatre). Also for the stage, Jo has adapted FAUST PARTS 1 & 2 and ANNA KARENINA (both for the Royal Lyceum Theatre), GREAT EXPECTATIONS (TAG), JEKYLL AND HYDE (Sell A Door Productions). LA VIE DE BOHEME and WUTHERING HEIGHTS and has translated SCHISM IN ENGLAND, LIFE IS A DREAM, CELESTINA, THE HOUSE OF BERNARDA ALBA and BINTOU.

 For radio, Jo has written SPAM FRITTERS, WRITING HOME TO MOTHER, MADELEINE and AIN’T IT GREAT TO BE BLOOMIN’ WELL DEAD and has adapted BALTASAR & BLIMUNDA and THE LEOPARD, among many others.

 Her THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JESUS QUEEN OF HEAVEN has been touring Brazil for the the last two years and she will perform it this Christmas at the Traverse Theatre. Her FIVE DAYS WHICH CHANGED EVERYTHING has just been broadcast on BBC Radio 3. Her ANNA KARENINA has just completed a hugely successful run in Tokyo. After performing EVE in Dundeee Rep, she is about to do so for the Nairn Festival and then in Brazil. The short film “These are my hands” (dir Evi Tsiligaridou) which Jo wrote and in which she performed, opened this year at the BFI Flare and Edinburgh international film festivals before winning awards and being shown in festivals in LA, Istanbul, Bristol and Glasgow .

She lives in Edinburgh and is a proud father and grandmother.

For further information on Jo and her work, visit www.teatrodomundo.com