26/03/2026
As the global theatre community prepares to celebrate World Theatre Day this Friday, we are reflecting on our work and how VX Labs, our pioneering research programme, are driving new approaches to accessibility, storytelling and artistic leadership across UK theatre.
Through these labs we are demonstrating how disabled-led practice can reshape how theatre is made, placing access, collaboration and lived experience at the centre of the creative process.
As Josh Elliott, Artistic Director said:
“World Theatre Day feels like a good moment to say that this work has to be more than rhetoric. If we’re serious about broadening who theatre is for, and who gets to shape it, then that learning has to be embedded in the work we make. At Vital Xposure, we’re trying to put our money where our mouth is by taking what’s come out of our Labs and applying it directly to the work we’re developing now, including When I See Blue and Chouette. What’s become clear to us is that access and disabled leadership don’t limit the artform – they open up richer possibilities for what theatre can be."
Our unique disabled-led methodology brings into focus something often overlooked in the creative process: the journey of the artist, particularly playwrights.
Our message behind this year’s World Theatre Day is clear: access, diversity and artistic excellence are not separate ambitions. they are deeply connected. Through research, artist development and new writing, the company is helping build a future where disabled artists lead the creation of new theatrical forms and where access is recognised as a powerful creative force.
Read more: https://buff.ly/e2eP0TQ
Photo featuring Zoë McWhinney and Rinkoo Barpaga (front), and Mary-Jayne Russell de Clifford (back) at the VX Lab: Creating a Playscript in BSL.
📷 Charlie Swinbourne
