Please Share, like you have never shared before. x #wicked Michael McCabe Executive Producer c/o Wicked London Production Limited 22 Stukeley Street London WC2B 5LR 22 November 2014 Dear Mr McCabe We have not yet had the privilege in meeting and would like to extend an invitation to do so at your earliest convenience. I know Mark McDonald MSP, contacted you several weeks ago and has received no reply. I am sure you will be familiar with a story which generated national interest in July 2011, when we as a family came to see the production of Wicked in London. To say we were excited was an understatement. The reality turned out a little different. It was through a complaint from the production’s sound engineer which triggered a request by the house manager resulting in my son and myself being asked to leave only 10 minutes into the performance. We are proud parents of both our son Gregor who has autism and daughter Emily. Speaking out as every family would, we only wish to see understanding, acceptance and most importantly, be included. Our focus was always of a positive nature and far removed from pointing the finger of blame, to saying, okay, this is not good, so let us look towards making it better. My requests were involvement from The National Autistic Society (NAS), a closed door industry conference day and to see an autism friendly (AF) performance. It was through a positive campaign and significant support from ATG, Autism & Theatre Inspiration Day, which brought industry together for the first time. AF performances are now becoming common place throughout the UK. Rightly so. To think we were told back then by someone who you will know, itll never work, as it will be an unbalanced audience. The rewards have been huge in seeing demand and then there is the genuine overwhelming feedback, not just from jubilant parents, carers and individuals, but even from the cast themselves, some even saying, its the best performance Ive ever been involved with. or I cant believe we havent done this before now. This has always been about changing the environment to suit the individuals’ needs, not the other way around. Something which will stay with us forever, is the support across the UK, which without, we would not have arrived where we are today. I feel very privileged to have worked with some fantastic productions alongside NAS, National Theatre of Scotland and Disney, and feel so much has been achieved with thanks to everyone, industry included, in believing there is a very real need for these kind of performances. Wicked will perform in Aberdeen May 2015, and I am writing asking you to consider an AF performance to take place within your visit. Gregor finds it very hard to travel long distances now and we have to face the strong probability that London may never again be an option for us. Autism affects the UK as a whole and does not have any geographical bias. But this doesnt just affect Gregor, as many individuals in the vibrant North East part of Scotland are being denied major theatre performances because of where they live. So its with these thoughts, and thoughts of many, that we are reaching out to you, for your consideration, some empathy, to make dreams happen and to see the smiles restored on the face of a child who just wishes to see a show called Wicked. Yours sincerely, Glyn Morris
Posted on: Sat, 22 Nov 2014 09:42:04 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015