This March, the Orpheus Centre celebrate their 20th birthday with a musical extravaganza at The Other Palace. Highlighting their important work, alumni and current students from this pioneering disabilities charity will join forces with renowned guests and recent graduates from the Arts Educational School to present Sir Richard Stilgoe’s Orpheus the Mythical.
Guiding the telling of this tale, the Chorus will be played on different nights by legendary personalities. The stars of stage and screen Rob Brydon, Bertie Carvel, and Samuel West will be joined by such TV names as Jane Asher, Barry Cryer, and Patricia Hodge. Martin Jarvis will bring his unforgettable voice to the stage as will The Archers stalwarts Charles Collingwood and Judy Bennett. On the final night of Orpheus the Mythical the award-winning Imelda Staunton and Downton Abbey star Jim Carter will take to the stage.
This witty musical comedy of a Greek tragedy follows Orpheus on an expedition hindered at every stage by bored, capricious gods and a dodgy satnav. He joins the heroic Argonauts to vanquish a dragon to steal the golden fleece. But on his return, his quest is not over. He must descend to the Underworld to rescue his wife Eurydice from the depths of Hades.
Sir Richard Stilgoe said, “We are performing with Arts Educational because we do inclusive stuff and not disabled stuff; the whole purpose of Orpheus is to mix young disabled people up with the real world and not separate them. These are terrific and confident performers who concentrate on what they can do rather than what they can’t. Orpheus changes young disabled people’s lives. It changes the lives of the staff and the 98 volunteers who work with them. It changes the lives of everyone who attends one of their shows. It has changed my life immeasurably.”
Orpheus – The Mythical is at The Other Palace 26th – 31st March 2018.
