Casula Powerhouse presents OTHERING
supported by Sydney Festival 

When the world says you’re no-one, how do you show you are someone?

''Dwarves are still the butt of jokes. It’s one of the last bastions of acceptable prejudice'', Peter Dinklage

‘Othering’ is a powerful new performance that encourages audiences to reflect on the blasé ill-treatment of people with dwarfism, and in turn, people who are viewed as ‘outside the norm’. Othering’ reverses and inverts the gaze of the audience, revealing the world through the eyes of the performer to expose an uncomfortable truth – that if you look different, you stand out from the crowd and gain a lot of attention but that’s not always a good thing, it can be deadly.

Inspired by performer Debra Keenahan's lived experience, this provocative new work addresses the physical, social and personal dimensions of personhood to examine the subject of “being different” as an insider. By emphasising the reactions, attitudes and behaviours of the broader society in the construction of difference and disability, ‘Othering’ encourages audiences to experience the world ‘as if’ they are a person with dwarfism and reflect upon how we use words and actions to ‘other’ people who are seen to be different.

DATES
Friday 13 January 8pm
Saturday 14 January 2pm
Saturday 14 January 8pm - Auslan interpreted and Audio Described performance
Saturday 14 January 7.15pm – Tactile Tour
Sunday 15 January 2pm

DURATION - 60 minutes

TICKETS
$35 adults | $25 concession

Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre accepts NSW Companion Cards

CREATIVE TEAM

‘Othering’ was created collaboratively by Debra Keenahan, Katrina Douglas, Sean Bacon, Paul Prestipino and Kate Shanahan, and produced by Little Big Woman Productions.

Producer & Performer: Debra Keenahan
Producer & Director: Katrina Douglas
Set & Costume Design: Kate Shanahan
Composer & Sound Design: Paul Prestipino
Film & Video Design: Sean Bacon
Photo Documentation: Robert Brindley
Lighting Designer: Matt Cox
Production Manager: Madeleine Picard
Script Consultant: Nick Atkins

AUDIENCE ADVICE

Othering includes strong language and references to sex and adult themes. It is suitable  for audiences aged 16 +.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Othering has been assisted by the NSW Government through Create NSW and the Australia Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, their arts funding and advisory body.

Othering was developed with support from Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Critical Stages Touring, Cowra Civic Centre, Bundanon and Phoenix Central Park.