The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema & Tv
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
      • Shows
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureTheatre

We Ask These Questions of Everybody by HERA Online

We Ask These Questions of Everybody by HERA Online | Theatre review
30 January 2021
Mersa Auda
Avatar
Mersa Auda
30 January 2021

For many people, staying at home for long stretches of time and being confined to a restricted space is nothing new. We Ask These Questions of Everybody speaks of the experiences of disabled people through snippets of real-life conversations, as well as interviews adapted to music. The production, written and directed by Toria Banks and composed by Amble Skuse, raises questions about the government’s out-of-touch approach. At the centre of the conversation is the detrimental impact that austerity in the UK is having on the overall health of disabled individuals. 

We Ask These Questions of Everybody is an operatic production that combines a range of elements to tell its story. It’s an account of many voices coming together and forming a harmonic ensemble, revealing intimate and touching details of various people’s personal testimonies. Each voice maintains the power of the speaker’s individuality as they share their unique struggle, hope, or outlook. Excerpts from assessment interviews are combined with observations revealing perspectives that are profound and often overlooked. The topics covered include worries and anxieties, but also symptoms and practical limitations that have great import in day-to-day life. There are reflections on insensitive comments received, on the persistent fear regarding the future, and many other revelations giving a glimpse into the “small universes,” as one interviewee calls them, that each speaker finds themself living in.

Amble’s soundscapes create a dreamlike atmosphere and pull the viewer right in, and the singing adds further pathos to the experience. The onscreen graphics all relate to communication, from crumpled paper to messages being typed and thoughts being composed as emails. The whole is tinted in overlapping, soothing colours, while scribbles are sketched around the screen. The project draws out something poetic from seemingly ordinary conversations that, collectively, send a powerful message about the vital importance of acceptance and expression. 

We Ask These Questions of Everybody is a unique and touching production that should be viewed widely.

★★★★★

Mersa Auda

We Ask These Questions of Everybody is available to live-stream on 29th January and to stream until 28th February 2021. For further information or to book visit HERA’s website here.

Read our interview with writer/director Toria Banks and composer Amble Skuse here.

Related Itemsdisabledfeaturedinclusiveonline theatreoperareview

More in Theatre

Gatsby at Cadogan Hall: An interview with Jodie Steele and Ross William Wild

Michael Higgs
Read More

Living Record Festival: Ain’t No Female Romeo

★★★★★
Brooke Snowe
Read More

West End Musical Drive In Online

★★★★★
James Humphrey
Read More

Hymn at the Almeida Theatre Online

★★★★★
Michael Higgs
Read More

Songs for a New World

★★★★★
Sophia Moss
Read More

Night Tree at Pavilion Dance South West Online

★★★★★
Alexandra Fletcher
Read More

The Color Purple – At Home at Curve Theatre Online

★★★★★
Emma-Jane Betts
Read More

All on Her Own

★★★★★
Georgia Howlett
Read More

Monolog 4 at Chickenshed Theatre Online

★★★★★
Samuel Nicholls
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Theatre review

Mersa Auda

We Ask These Questions of Everybody by HERA Online

★★★★★

Dates

29th January - 28th February 2021

Price

Free

Links & directions

TwitterFacebookWebsiteNo map

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Smith & Burrows – Only Smith & Burrows Is Good Enough
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Celebrate Margarita Day at home with these simple yet sophisticated cocktails
    Food & Drinks
  • The Trial of the Chicago 7
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Creation Stories
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Wrong Turn
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Julien Baker – Little Oblivions
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Creation Stories
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Minari
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Gatsby at Cadogan Hall: An interview with Jodie Steele and Ross William Wild
    Theatre
  • The United States Vs Billie Holiday
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Minari
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • West End Musical Drive In Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Hymn at the Almeida Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Bradford – Bright Hours
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Pelé
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Chickenshed Theatre: Peter Pan YouTube premiere | Theatre review
Feast | Movie review