DIG 2025: Claire Cunningham - Songs of the Wayfarer

In this solo performance, disabled choreographer and singer Claire Cunningham traverses landscapes of nature, stage and Gustav Mahler’s song cycle to navigate both known and unfamiliar landscapes, alongside profound loss and change in our lives. 

Friday 9 May, 7 to 8.30pm (BSL interpreted)
Saturday 10 May, 4 to 5.30pm

“I really love turning into this sort of four-legged creature. All the little places that you can wedge the crutch really right into a corner or into a crack. In Scotland, we’d say nooks and crannies. I get so lost in that sort of play…when the ground really becomes… my companion.” 

In this new solo performance, Cunningham asks - what is it to wander? To seek to scale great heights? What can be learned from those of us who reach for the ground through crutches as 4-legged creatures, the choreography of crip* navigation, and the maps we would re-draw? Of scale and time and energy?  What does it means to keep going and, importantly, to know when to turn back?

Led by her lived experience as a disabled person, her memory of training as a classical singer, knowledge drawn from the world of mountaineering, and Gustav Mahler’s ‘Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen’,  Claire Cunningham sets out to traverse known and unfamiliar landscapes. Through a crip* lens, Cunningham invites us to pay closer attention to the ways we navigate the physical world, alongside profound loss and change in our lives. 

*Crip is a political and cultural identity embraced by some disabled individuals

 “The work encourages us to savour our moments of observation as well as action, to question all kinds of hierarchies, to be kind to ourselves and others. Rich in compassion and invention, Cunningham’s work is gentle, poignant and thought-provoking.”
The Review Hub

Recommended for ages 12+

ACCESS: Relaxed performance, Audio description available, BSL interpreted on 9 May. 

Audience notes 
This show deals with themes of grief and loss
There are moments when Claire is in close proximity to the audience. They may be asked to hold items for her (they are free to say no).  A map of the stage will be provided which highlights where these seats are so people can choose to sit elsewhere if they wish. 

CREDITS

Concept and Choreography: Claire Cunningham with Dan Watson and Luke Pell
Performance: Claire Cunningham
Associate Director and Dramaturgy: Dan Watson
Dramaturg: Luke Pell
Set and Costume Design: Bethany Wells
Lighting Design: Chris Copland
Sound Design: Matthias Herrmann
Video Design: Michelle Ettlin
Artistic Collaborator: Julia Watts Belser
Captioner: Maria Wünsche (Panthea)
Executive Producer: Nadja Dias
Projects and Access Producer: Vicky Wilson
Production Manager: Emma Jones
Artistic Access Consultancy: Nelly Kelly, Panthea, Angela Alves, Rita Mazza and Naomi Sanfo-Ansorge
Mountaineering Consultants: Cormac Lynch and Simone Kenyon
Administrative Support (for HZT): Susanne Adam and Jeanette Gogoll
Audio Description Script (English): Claire Cunningham and Julia Watts Belser, with Vicky Wilson and Luke Pell. Spoken by Claire Cunningham

A Claire Cunningham production

Created as part of the Einstein Strategic Professorship, Choreography, Dance and Disability Arts“ at the HZT Berlin. 

Co-commissioned and co-produced by Mousonturm Frankfurt, No Limits Festival Hong Kong, HAU Hebbel am Ufer and No Limits Festival Berlin, Münchner Kammerspiele, Next Festival Kotrijk, Sadler´s Wells London and Dampfzentrale Bern. An Unlimited International Strategic commission made possible thanks to funding from British Council.

Photo - Sven Hagolani