Winnipeg play about Greek mythology puts spotlight on gender identity, disability

Gender identity and disability intersect in a new play at Winnipeg’s Prairie Theatre Exchange.

“Neither Here Nor There” is being put on by Sick + Twisted Theatre, a disability theatre company.

“We create work from the lived experience of disability or through a disability lens,” said Debbie Patterson, the theatre company’s artistic director.

Patterson says it’s critical for theatre to be accessible, starting with the creative team.

“Most theatre imagines a world where disability doesn’t exist, and then invites disabled people to come and watch a world that erases them, so the first thing we do is we put disabled people on stage and put our stories on stage.”

The venue itself is wheelchair accessible, has gender neutral and accessible washrooms, a specially curated access guide, live audio description and ASL interpretation – ensuring nobody is left out.

There is also a guided “touch tour” of the set, where audiences can touch the set and costumes.

Vivi Dabee, the performer and star of “Neither Here Nor There,” plays the character of Tiresias.

“Tiresias is a blind prophet who works for Zeus,” Dabee said. “She was cursed by Athena when she saw Athena bathing, and for that she was created blind.”

Dabee called the production “very supportive and collaborative.”

“I feel that we all have equal investment and we’re all able to contribute and our contributions were valued and validated,” she said.

“There are intersectionalities, sometimes between disability and gender and that we are all a spectrum of who we are. Each of us in the bodies that we live in should be valued and appreciated for the gifts that we contribute to society.”

Patterson explains the play was several years in the making.

“It’s been created collaboratively over four years with this team of blind folks working together, exploring the story of Tiresias, who is this character from Greek mythology who lived for seven years as a woman and the rest of his life as a man,” she said.

“Neither Here Nor There” runs until June 15 with a “pay what you can” fee structure. The play is also being livestreamed for free online for those who can’t make it to the theatre.