One of the leading playwrights of the moment and nationally acclaimed writer, Mike Kenny is the author of Mind the Gap’s latest national tour Treasure Island. Here he shares his experiences of what it means to work with learning disabled people.
“Its shocking how we can take some things for granted until our attention is drawn to them. It’s an even bigger leap to do something about it. Some doors seem to be locked that aren’t. They just have the weight of history leaning against them, which makes them resistant to opening.
When I first entered theatre in the seventies I came through a recently opened door with a passion for making work for those who had had little voice. I’d grown up working class on a rural council estate and saw myself as one of those excluded. Much of my first ten years was spent in working with the clamouring voices of class, race, gender and sexual orientation which came flooding out of the seventies and eighties.
Towards the end of that time I was working on a play about disability. None of the cast were disabled. We were serious and impassioned, and researched and interviewed many people, both disabled and non-disabled. Then one day, a guy I was talking to who had cerebral palsy said to me, ‘Why am I not in this play?’ Its a damn good question. It’s one that bears repeating. Years ago Sheila Rowbotham said, the task is to make the door wider. I’d add to that now that some people may need a ramp, a terp and a bit of a hand up, but it’s still the same task.
Learning disabled people have had to wait a long time before they got to tell their own stories on the stages of the world. I’ve been involved in ways of helping them do it since I arrived at Mind the Gap, and it has been an adventure for all of us.
A major breakthrough for me was Of Mice and Men. Going back to where I started, I’m not sure I’d ever really thought much about Lenny being a learning disabled character. I was aware that actors had consistently used the character as a way of displaying their talents. I saw someone on the TV only this week, who had won an Olivier Award for playing Lenny. He said, flippantly, ‘I think they give most people who play Lenny an award.’ Yes, well. It’s a bigger discussion than I’ve got room for here.
When Kevin originally played the role, the fact that he shared experiences with Lenny didn’t mean he wasn’t performing. But he was bringing a reality to the role that existed in a place beyond performance. The same could be said of Jonathan Ide when he played Boo. It was a performance but it had an authenticity you don’t often find.
This work is truly ground breaking, and throws down a gauntlet to mainstream work. I’m not sure the gauntlet is being taken up yet, though the mainstream has started to take note. In 2013 Rob Ewens, who was our second Lenny, was auditioned for the National Theatre and the RSC. This kind of thing is a step in the right direction for equal opportunities, though I think it won’t much affect our continued adventures at Mind the Gap. We will still be posing questions and leaning on doors, heaving them open, and I will be very proud to be involved.”
In March 2011 Mike won an Olivier Award for his adaptation of The Railway Children, and in December 2012 the German Children’s Theatre Prize for his play, Electric Darkness. Another of Mike’s plays, Stepping Stones, written for an audience of young people with learning disabilities, won the Arts Council Children’s award in 2001 and Writers Guild Best Play.
Previous work for Mind the Gap
On The Verge, Cyrano, The Emperor’s New Clothes, Pied Piper, Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, and Stig Of the Dump. He lives with his family in Yorkshire and in 2012 produced a new version of the York Mystery Plays. His plays are regularly seen in the region.
In 2013 Nottingham University honoured him with the title Doctor of Letters for his work.