Take Up Thy Bed & Walk is a subversive performance about women, disability and fiction. Conceived by theatre designer, disability activist and Creative Australia inaugural fellowship recipient Gaelle Mellis, this extraordinary new work starts out from the portrayals of disabled women in 19th century literature and ends up at the most infamous intervention by a major recording artist with disability within popular culture.
The show includes an anthem, giving a female and gestural voice to Ian Dury’s deliberately provocative Spasticus Autisticus written in 1981 for the International Year of Disabled Persons. Our anthem, made from videos that you contribute, will be a call to arms, a stirring, provocative and uplifting finale to Take Up Thy Bed & Walk, creating the effect of a virtual army of proud, strong women.
Using this site
Deaf and disabled women are invited to learn dance moves and song signing to Spasticus Autisticus, alone or with others, and share videos of these performances via the Take Up Thy Bed & Walk website. We will use your contributions as projected videos that will be ‘choreographed’ to join the performers live on stage.