Acknowledgement of Country

By staying in one place we can see the world turn.

Parked (working title) is a long form collaboration between Polyglot Theatre (AUS) and Oily Cart (UK) that is taking place over time and distance, working in parallel in two countries. The central point of view for the creation of the work is of disabled children who experience the most barriers to access.

Virtual Creative Exchange
Join a live virtual conversation between principle creatives from Polyglot Theatre and Oily Cart to learn more about Parked, the process involved in its creative development and guiding principles of the project. Attendees will receive prompts for a sensory, creative activity, and can participate in an open Q&A.

Panellists: Sue Giles AM, Ellie Griffiths, Greta McMillan, Dr. Tanja Beer

Overview

Enter a world of rustling plants, plants that hang, plants that move, that open vista after vista around you. You are at the centre. You are in control.

Parked (working title) will be a new sensory theatre work for disabled children who experience the most barriers to access, and will aim to create authentic participation and inclusivity.

Parked (working title) will work with nature and landscape to explore ideas of freedom and power in relation to a shifting world. Through the lens of the full range of textures, tastes and smells of nature, Parked (working title) will explore theatre, narrative, and experience. Crucially, it will be made both for and in collaboration with young people who experience the world through sensory means.
Parked (working title) is currently in creative development in both Australia and the UK.

About Polyglot Theatre
Polyglot Theatre is a world-renowned contemporary theatre company based in Melbourne making exceptional arts experiences for children and families. Our unique brand of participatory theatre encompasses a wide variety of forms, and is shared with audiences everywhere, from the world’s most prestigious theatres to the football grounds of regional Australia. Access is central Polyglot’s work, driven by the right of all children to experience growth and resilience through creative play.

Visit Polyglot Theatre’s website

About Oily Cart
For 40 years, Oily Cart has been creating accessible, sensory theatre for and with disabled and non-disabled children and their families. An Oily Cart show can take place anywhere – bouncing on a trampoline, floating in a hydrotherapy pool, or even flying up in the air! Using touch, sounds, smells, music and movement, our interactive, responsive shows prioritise the enjoyment of children for whom standardised theatre formats create barriers to access.

Visit Oily Cart’s website

Commissioned by Arts Centre Melbourne for major arts and disability festival Alter State, Parked (working title) is supported by the UK/Australia Season Patrons Board, the British Council and the Australian Government as part of the UK/Australia Season. It has also received additional support from the Cassandra Gantner Foundation, State Trustees Australia Foundation, the Prescott Family Foundation and Arts Council England.

About the artist

Polyglot Theatre is a globally-renowned company based in Melbourne that creates, produces and tours Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) all over the world. Polyglot’s artistic approach of child-centred practice has earned it an international reptuation as a leader in the TYA sector, celebrated for creating distinctive, collaborative works that are playful and conceptually robust. Polyglot involves kids from creative development through to immersive performances; and reaches the broadest range of children by placing its work everywhere from the world’s most prestigious theatres to the football grounds of regional Australia. Access is central to Polyglot’s work, driven by the right of all children to experience growth and resilience through creative play.

Oily Cart create high-quality, theatrical experiences that exclude no one.

For 40 years, Oily Cart have been creating sensory theatre for and with disabled and non-disabled children and their families. Their accessible performances use touch, sounds, smells, lights, shadows, music and movement to cocoon the audience in the imaginary world of the show. An Oily Cart production can take place anywhere – bouncing on a trampoline, floating in a hydrotherapy pool, inside a giant balloon or even flying up in the air! They produce interactive, responsive shows that prioritise the enjoyment of individuals for whom standardised theatre formats create barriers to access. Their productions tour across the UK and internationally to theatres, schools and hospitals and, since the pandemic, to playgrounds, doorsteps, homes and Zoom screens. All Oily Cart projects are co-created with disabled artists of all ages.

Alter State is a major arts and disability festival celebrating contemporary art and performance by artists from Australia and Aotearoa (New Zealand).

Alter State diversifies the bodies, thinking and ways of being usually experienced in arts and cultural spaces. It is a deep dive into Arts and Disability from our region, and a space to showcase its creative and cultural history of Deaf and Disabled Artists. Alter State is co-founded and presented by Arts Centre Melbourne and Arts Access Victoria.

Arts Centre Melbourne is Australia’s largest and busiest performing arts centre, showcasing the best of Australian and international performing arts for nearly 40 years.

It is home to flagship resident companies – The Australian Ballet, Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Melbourne Theatre Company and Opera Australia – and a range of presenters who collectively bring its stages to life.

It offers a diversity of audiences a distinctly multidimensional approach to participation, education and entertainment.

They are now focused on Reimagining Arts Centre Melbourne as part of the Victorian Government’s commitment to transforming the Melbourne Arts Precinct into a thriving, connected creative and civic space over the coming years.