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Exeunt Magazine
@exeuntmagazine.bsky.social
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Longform, thoughtful coverage of the UK's theatre landscape. Find us at exeuntmagazine.substack.com
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exeuntmagazine.bsky.social
Gorgeous work in here by @ogdenlaurie.bsky.social with @floomahony.bsky.social's words for @wearezooco.bsky.social!
Putting Perfect Show for Rachel on stage has always felt like a rebellious and radical act. My big sister Rachel, who is learning disabled and lives in a care home, directs the show live from her tech desk with 50+ buttons that different trigger scenes, songs, dances, chats and games. All of these are things that Rachel loves – from from Kylie Minogue to massive fights to waving at boys – and she gets to decide and control the order they happen in, in each and every performance. The show explores who defines artistic taste, who is currently excluded from making art, and who gets to decide what art is “perfect”. In the first iteration of the show, we experimented with a garage track by The Streets called ‘Who’s Got the Bag?’ It’s still in the show, because it’s a big, big hit for Rachel. It’s also a song with back-to-back drugs references – not a song you might have assumed Rachel will like. But Rachel loves an angry boy shouting, she loves naughtiness, she loves the repetition of “who’s got the bag” and how it reflects one of her in-jokes about how our family is always losing stuff – our phones, our bags. Image (taken by Ikim Yum) of an orange hazy stage with seven figures stood facing different directions, white text on back drop with musical notes reading 'I DON'T GIVE A DAMN 'BOUT' above some windows. In fact, it was imperative that this process was focused on attending to our own changes within ourselves, and not to try to change Rachel whatsoever. Disabled people experience us trying to make them ‘more like us’ constantly. This show had to be the opposite. But what we’ve discovered is that in changing the environment and people around her, of course, Rachel changes too. We’ve become more trustworthy, we’ve shown her ‘if you throw me the ball, I’ll catch it more often’ – and so Rachel’s throwing the ball more and more. She’s telling us more and more about who she is, what she likes, needs and wants. In these moments, Rachel doesn’t need to rely solely on the buttons anymore: she’ll just start that direction in an improvisational sense. And we’re ready to catch that. It’s clear she’s really flexing what this show can be. Image (by Ikin Yum) of a blue, green, purple and orange-lit stage with seven performers all in exuberant outstretched poses, with text reading 'THIS IS PERFECT SHOW FOR RACHEL' on the backdrop above the windows, with music notes
November 11, 2025 at 1:20 PM