Associate Artists

A square poster with a light blue background containing bold dark green text, the headline reads 'Unseen’. Underneath the title in smaller text, reads ‘a gripping new audio drama by Extant’. On the bottom right, the text reads ‘Streaming from 4th March 2024’ followed with further text below, which reads ‘www.extant.org.uk/unseen’. At the bottom of the poster are a row of 4 pitched rooftops in a line. The houses painted blue, pink, yellow and green.

Monday 4th March 2024

Listen to Unseen Audio Drama below: Extant presents Unseen, a gripping new audio drama that examines the subtle and insidious effect of domestic abuse on the blind and visually impaired community, using empathy, hope and candour to raise awareness of this important subject. Through the stories of two visually impaired protagonists, Unseen illuminates […]

A photo image of the right half of a young Chinese woman's face. Her eye is closed. Bright light dapples across her skin.

15th October 2023

Extant in association with Bloomsbury Festival 2023 presents ‘I Dream in Colour’ by Jasmin Thien, an autobiographical one-woman play exploring memory, loss, and the intersection between disability and immigrant culture, drawn from Jasmin’s experiences growing up fighting eye cancer and eventually blindness as a Bruneian-born Chinese. “When fighting for survival is who you are as […]

Two photos side by side separated by a purple line. On the left is a close shot of the face of Jasmine Thien (an East Asian woman in her mid-20s). Her eyes are closed and patterns of dappled light are cast across her face. The other image is a black and white photo of Helena Ascough (a white, blonde-haired woman in her mid-20s). She stands speaking animatedly into a microphone in a stand, with her right hand pointing toward her head. She wears a denim jacket, a tartan skirt, a white t-shirt and glasses.

March 2023

Extant, Helena Ascough and Jasmin Thien Present: ‘No Future’ & ‘I Dream In Colour’ A double bill of new work by Extant’s Associate Artists, showcasing the cutting edge of access-led theatre created by blind and visually impaired theatre artists. Camden People’s Theatre Mon 27 Mar 2023, 19:15 No Future – written and performed by Helena Ascough […]

production shot of Alice, a white blonde woman in her mid twenties, performing in Past Life. She is stood leaning forward with arms outstretched and laughing, with soft lighting on her face and is wearing a dark pink tie-dye shirt.

2022

Extant is delighted to present Past Life by Alice Christina-Corrigan at the Bloomsbury Festival 2022 Written and performed by Alice Corrigan, a graduate of Extant’s Pathways Writers Programme, Past Life is a genre-bending, multi-sensory and creatively accessible exploration of the stages of a breakup and the normalisation of sexual assault in relationships. Written and performed […]

A purple flower growing out of a white hospital bed, a splatter of red blood on its sheets. The background of the image is all black.

Saturday 16 October 2021, 8.30pm

Visually impaired Shakespearean director Christopher Hunter penetrated the dark heart of Shakespeare’s sensationally successful poem Venus and Adonis to create States of Mind, produced by Extant.

A black woman conversing to a group of seven others who are laughing at what she is saying.

17 October 2020 live streamed at 6pm

I Say, what do you get when over a dozen visually impaired comedians congregate for some covert comedy?

Yes it’s Eye Say, Eye Say, Eye Say! At this year’s Bloomsbury Festival!

Join us on 17th October at 6 pm for a night of eye-watering comedy from our awesome range of visually impaired comedians who will actually be performing together and live-streamed to you from a top-secret location and offering 20/20 insights on their diverse experiences living in the capital!

A celebratory group shot of visually impaired drag artists, all dressed in a variety of colourful and outlandish costumes. Some people pose while others grin and have their hands in the air.

2019-2020

Quiplash – Unsightly Drag 2019-2020 A cabaret with a difference, Unsightly Drag was presented by collaborating partners Extant, the UK’s leading visually impaired theatre company, and Quiplash, a queer crip (quip) led creative company supporting and taking up space for quip artists and audiences. Blind and visually impaired people from across the LGBTQIA […]

A close up of a white woman with electric blue lightning makeup on her right eye and smoky blue eyeshadow on the other. She is wearing a purple coat with fur collar and grasping a microphone.

August 2018

Tinted is a revolutionary disabled response to the #metoo hashtag. Staged as accessibly as possible and written by disabled playwright Amy Bethan Evans (Libby’s Eyes, BBC Access Room, Kudos Fellowship shortlist and producer of Access Platform) Tinted is the debut full-length monologue from company Scripped Up, championing D/deaf, disabled and neurodivergent writers. Tinted started as a […]

A white man with tied back ginger hair sits on a chair leaning towards a black woman who is reaching out her arm and touching his face. Behind them is a white man with short dark hair who is making noises with a keyboard, and metal cups. To the left of the image stand two white women, the one with dark hair is whispering in the ear of the one with light blonde hair.

2018

The Man Who Saw Backwards In 2018 Extant supported visually impaired actor Esther Elliott with her first-time writing project, by providing a week of research and development time in a venue with a professional, visually impaired cast, and directing consultation by Maria Oshodi. Esther’s take on Shakespeare’s King Lear relocated much of the action to […]

Tom Skelton looking over dark glasses dressed in a beige trench and black trilby

2017 & 2018

Visually impaired comedians Tom Skelton and Douglas Walker preview their shows Blind Eye Spy and Of Christmas Past ahead of the 2018 Edinburgh Fringe

A close up shot of two white men standing facing each other. One wears a long silver tinsel wig and the other looks at him, with a confused expression.

2016-2022

Catching the Ghost is back! This play is being performed at Nozstock Festival on 24th July 2022, with Chris and Steve returning to the roles. Information available here: https://nozstock.com/artists/extant-present-catching-the-ghost/

Associate Artists

Unseen

I Dream In Colour

I Dream in Colour by Jasmin Thien & No Future by Helena Ascough

Past Life at the Bloomsbury Festival

States of Mind by Christopher Hunter

Eye Say, Eye Say, Eye Say!

Quiplash – Unsightly Drag

Tinted by Amy Bethan Evans

The Man Who Saw Backwards by Esther Eliot

Edinburgh Fringe Previews – Douglas Walker and Tom Skelton

Catching the Ghost by Chris Campion