Every Body Festival is a two-week celebration of disabled and deaf-led performance, creativity and community launching at Camden People’s Theatre this summer.
Artistic Director Rio Matchett’s inaugural programme, running from 29th June – 13th July, the festival features live theatre, digital premieres, cabaret, workshops and panel events, all led by disabled and deaf artists, and all with integrated access baked in – from relaxed performances and creative captioning, to multilingual BSL-led work and digital streams.
It features new work from FUSE, Deafinitely Theatre and Paines Plough, as well as streamed performances like For A Palestinian and GRILLS – described by The Reviews Hub as “an archive of queer joy,” developed through CPT’s own commissioning scheme, allowing audiences across the country to engage with the work.
Highlights include:
- Lighting the FUSE – a brand-new BSL-led theatre piece devised in five days
- Balancing the Books – a powerful and timely panel discussion on Personal Independence Payments (PIP), Access to Work and disability rights
- A Night in Sign – a vibrant deaf cabaret night
- And two scratch nights featuring brand new work from disabled and neurodivergent artists
It’s a bold, community-rooted programme and a clear statement of intent from CPT about what the future of theatre can and should look like, with access at its heart and artists at the centre. Equal, intersectional access to the arts for both creatives and audiences.
All its events have an element of access, whether that’s BSL, captioning, audio description or a relaxed design.
From online meet-ups like Queerdos – a space for queer, disabled and neurodivergent people to connect and create – to digital streams, panel discussions and scratch nights, the festival reflects Camden People’s Theatre’s long standing commitment to platforming underrepresented voices and re-imagining who gets to make theatre, and how.
With support from City Bridge Foundation, every live artist is paid a guaranteed fee – not a box office split. This is an essential political decision at a time when disabled people are being squeezed harder and harder financially. CPT is carrying the financial risk so artists don’t have to – but “we need our community to come on the journey with us and buy those tickets.”
LISTINGS INFO
Every Body Festival
29 June – 13 July 2025
Camden People’s Theatre, 58–60 Hampstead Road, London NW1 2PY
www.cptheatre.co.uk/festivals/EveryBody
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