Cystic Fibrosis play seeks funds
Crowd-source funding for Cystic Fibrosis play
Edinburgh-based theatre company Creative Electric has until the end of Monday October 6 to fund its latest work, Hey, I’m Alive!, an interactive piece exploring the reality of living with Cystic Fibrosis.
Performer Christie working with pill capsules inside her zorb. Photo: Creative Electric
Creative Electric is working with its Young Company member Jordan, who has CF, to create the work for performance in Glasgow as part of Arches Live 2014, the annual festival of new work by Scotland’s most exciting performance makers, “brought together by a shared determination to subvert and surprise”.
Hey, I’m Alive! is performed by five actors, one of whom has CF. Each is trapped inside a Zorb, or balloon, so that they are inside their own bubble with a thin layer of latex protecting them from infection. Audiences are free to wander amongst them, interact with them, observe them and listen to their stories.
Speaking about the production, Creative Electric artistic director Heather Marshall said: “CF is a condition thats close to my heart. I’m working with a performer with the condition and over the past year I’ve learnt so much about it. The impacts of this condition, especially on young people, is not widely known.
“Until I started this project I didn’t know that people with CF can never meet one another as the risk of infection is so high, that the average life expectancy is just 31 years, that CFers need to eat a high fat diet and around 5000 calories per day, that fertility rates are low and that even if they do have a child they may not live to share their life with them.”
Unique approach to theatre
The company are looking for £1,500 to complete the project and have set up a crowdfunding page on Indiegogo.com. As of Sunday they had raised two thirds of the amount, with just £500 left to achieve.
Speaking of his involvement with the project, Jordan says: “In its unique approach to theatre, what Electric does for me is help explore parts of me I didn’t think I could ever share, or express to myself – let alone other people. Suffering from a physical disability, Electric has helped me accept myself for who I am, and not what others would expect – as well as improve my health. Joining has been one of the best decisions I’ve made to date.’
Further details of Hey, I’m Alive! are on the Indiegogo page at: www.indiegogo.com/projects/hey-i-m-alive
The production is part of Arches Live, Friday 10 and Saturday 11 October 2014, at 6pm. Full details: www.thearches.co.uk
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