Taking the Stage 2024 - Tales From The Confined

What does it mean to be Confined? Physically? Psychologically? What has led to this confinement in terms of conscious or enforced life choices? Has incarceration come as a result of barriers and restrictions imposed by Society, or a crime committed by choice? What is justice? How has confinement changed over time for disabled people and what do they have in common with inmates? Set during the pandemic, ‘Tales from the Confined’ tells the stories of Sarah and Lucy, at opposite ends of the social spectrum in 21st Century Britain and Lizzie, a young 19th Century Dorset woman who was sent to Bristol School of Trade and Industry for the Blind, otherwise known as Bristol Asylum. Sarah is serving Time at Sunny Tree Prison in Essex and Lucy lives alone by the sea in the Southwest England. They connect through correspondence and stumble upon Lizzie online. What journey do the three women have in common?

Written by Tam Gilbert, and devised in R&D with Anthony Gough, Esther Irving and Michelle Felix, ‘Tales from the Confined’ is a commission for Taking the Stage and part-funded through Lighthouse Poole’s Sanctuary programme. The play draws upon themes and concepts from Tam’s short play ‘Confined’ (written for Extant Theatre Company) and her recent HLF funded project ‘Sensing Helen’ – exploring (as well as the story of Helen Keller, the lives of two Victorian Visually impaired Dorset Women, Sophia Ridout and Elizabeth Groves. ‘Tales from the Confined’ experiments with embedded Description which is sewn into the heart of the narrative.

Tam Gilbert - Playwright & Sound Design

Tam is a Bournemouth-based writer and theatre-maker. She graduated from University of Kent with a second-class BA Hons English Degree in 2001 and alongside providing administration and project management, to Double Act Disability Theatre, spent much of her early career writing and performing with the company. As a visually impaired artist, Tam is passionate about making accessible work which embeds Creative Audio Description from the outset, so that it is not seen as an add-on, but an intrinsic, invisible thread.

Tam is Co-Director of Millstream Theatre, a community company of learning-disabled actors based at the Museum of East Dorset which she co-founded in 2014 and for which she produces, co-writes and directs annual productions. She has worked with professional disability-led companies Diverse City and LinkUpArts and extensively with London’s Extant Theatresince 2019, where she trained on their Pathways Writers and Directors Programmes. Tam showcased her short play Confined (2022) and was commissioned to write a one act play, One 2 One in the same year. Most recently, Tam was a writer on the Devising Team for Extant’s Audio Drama Unseen (2023), a project that highlighted domestic abuse of visually impaired women.

Anthony Gough - Director

Anthony is a visually impaired theatre maker, director and actor who is currently the Associate artist for the North West for Graeae theatre Company and Liverpool Everyman Playhouse. He graduated in 2015 and has since worked with companies including Extant, DaDa, Art with Heart, Ugly Bucket and RAWD. His freelance work has involved working with theatre companies and venues as an access consultant and an audio description consultant. Anthony is passionate about creative audio description and bringing to life creative forms of access on the stage.