Artist Residencies

We are thrilled to have offered four artists residencies.  The following artists will be developing new work for PMLD audiences at Carrow House over the next year. 

Aadil is a performer and facilitator based in Malvern. His passion for Access & Inclusion extends across his roles as Creative Partnerships Assistant at Birmingham Hippodrome, and as Accessibility & Inclusion Creative at Scala Theatre. He has toured his work across the West Midlands and Fringe festivals, devising shows that combine therapeutic approaches to encapsulate the beauty of humanity, often through a sensory, postdramatic lens. He particularly encourages work from fellow queer artists of colour.

His theatre credits include Posy in Ballet Shoes: The Multi-Sensory Experience (National Theatre, Frozen Light Theatre), Crimplene Crusaders (Vamos Theatre), Owen in To the Streets! (Birmingham Hippodrome & China Plate Theatre), and Nibbles in West Side Story (Birmingham Hippodrome).

Matthew Rawcliffe is a dance artist based between Manchester and Copenhagen. He specialises in inclusive performance for neurodivergent audiences and sensory work for people with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD). He is most known for winning the contemporary dance category of BBC Young Dancer 2019 and playing the title role in Pinocchio at the Danish Royal Theatre.

Recent sensory creations include Hades & Persephone (Arts Council England funded) and Narkissos (one-on-one performance funded by Arts Council Denmark). Matthew also works as an access consultant, most recently for Curious Seed and as keynote speaker for the Danish National School of Performing Arts’ symposium on work for young audiences. 

Dansam Theatre, a new company based in the North West of England brought together by our enthusiasm for Sensory Theatre for Adults with PMLD.

Led by Sensory artist Dan Walker (fb @makeachangecheshire) who has PMLD and is a member of Frozen Light’s Audience Panel.

For our show we want to explore Dan’s preferences as artistic vision and choice. We anticipate our show will be a story set at sea and filled with big drums, plenty of tasting moments and close harmony Sea shanty singing.

Dansam Theatre, taking ‘Person Centred’ out of the tagline and into the Theatre.

Robyn Olivia is a Sensory Theatre Artist, Humanitarian Clown and Community Arts Facilitator. She has over 8 years experience working nationally and internationally in sensory theatre with the likes of Concrete Youth, Embracing Arts, The Flying Seagulls Project and Playground Kent. As a disabled artist, access is not an addition to her process but its foundation; Robyn’s practice focuses on clowning, immersive theatre, music and play and is always shaped by the communities it’s created for.

This Frozen Light residency marks Robyn’s first adventure into creating her own work. Her project will explore the crossroads of Sensory Theatre, clown and comedy. In essence - what makes us laugh, what does laughter feel like? What happens when we break rules, and indulge in what our audience finds funny to co-create a real sense of mischief?