Shift!
‘Shift!’ is an original music theatre experience by Made By Mortals about learning disability and the workplace.
The show was devised over 3 months in summer, 2019 and funded by Stockport Local. We created ‘Shift’ in collaboration with Pure Innovations, who support a diverse range of people to live independent, healthy and valued lives in their communities. The show premiered to a packed audience at Stockport Masonic Guildhall in October 2019.
The show explores learning difficulties and discrimination in the workplace. However, we start with the notion that within the magical world of theatre you can be or do anything; theatre is a metaphor in the piece for ‘anything is possible’.
The group used this opportunity to imagine their dream jobs- astronauts, stand-up comedians, models… etc. And theatrically we created an opening number that begins in a theatre and is in a very recognisable musical theatre style.
“It’s a chance for us to dream,
To be who we want to be be,
A chance for you to see who we are.”
Then with the introduction of the concept of discrimination the piece becomes warped and the recognisable musical theatre style breaks down.
We also worked with supremely talented visual artist Johnny Woodhams to help the group create something that could visually express their experiences of discrimination such as bullying, being patronised, being under-estimated and much more besides.
