Getting away from Sidney

ARENA presents a profile of a touring group of disabled actors to mark the International Year of the Disabled. Uncle Sidney is the kindly old soul in charge of an institute for the disabled; he tucks them up at night and keeps them supplied with back numbers of the Readers Digest. But his crippled charges have had enough of him, and “Sideshow”, the Graeae Theatre Company’s extraordinary play, tells the story of their escape. “I know that somehow I can live my way without other people telling me to be grateful. I can’t live my life as a half person. I know that I am a whole person and if it is the last thing I do I am going to get out of this place”. (Sideshow), ‘The Times’ wrote “inspiring television”. ‘The Guardian’ “a superb film profile on the work of the Graeae Theatre Company, a touring group of disabled actors whose play ‘Sideshow’ is a defiant celebration of the rights of the disabled to be accepted for themselves”. What is the significance of the program for input? “Getting Away form Sidney” was one of the first films broadcast on British television to mark the International Year of the Disabled. It is a positive and defiant expression of the participants themselves – a company of disabled actors. The form and content of the programme is taken directly from their concerns and observations. They tell their stories I their own words and through their own play ‘Sideshow’. So far as is possible in television the programme makers did not mediate between the subjects of the programme and the audience. For this particular section of society this a rare occurrence.