Artistic Director & Founder

Many years ago my life was changed for the better when I encountered the brave new world of inclusive performing arts in London. I founded Total Ensemble in 2011 because there was nowhere to continue or develop this experience in Norfolk.

I trained in contemporary dance during the late 80’s. In class I enjoyed many a laugh with one of my peers, Adam Benjamin, who went on to found Candoco. His drive and brilliance inspired me enormously. Those early days and indeed years of Candoco were nothing short of revolutionary.

After performing in comedy revue and theatre in London and at the Edinburgh Fringe, I trained as an actor at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and went on to work at Chickenshed.

Here, for the first time in my life, I was welcomed, taught, influenced, transformed by and performed alongside people of all ages and nationalities, some with extreme challenges, both physical and emotional. I experienced first-hand their talent, ability and refusal to let anything stop them from following their dreams to perform. Well why the flip  would they? Boy, I knew so little of such a world and how much I have continued to learn over the years since.

What is transformative for everyone is a space in which we can experience and engage in the real work and play of creating and performing original stories in a way that allows us to ‘come as we are’, as individuals, functioning in a group that challenges us whilst nurturing us and, above all, unites us.

I have always believed that difference, heart-felt and actioned acceptance of difference, crucially, authentic celebration of difference, the others, the strangers – all of us – is what makes humankind tick its loudest and strongest rhythm. 

I am drawn to the person that unwittingly (or wittingly? I do hope so!) outshines everyone from the sidelines by simply ‘being themselves’, or one that flies in leftfield and surprises everyone, jolting them out of their safe, slumbering herd-mentality and social restraint.

Words are rapidly losing their power with overuse, misuse, abuse, buzz words, political correctness; subjective semantics.

At Total we ENJOY the universal language of somatics, digging deep into the heart; the doing of the dance, the singing of the song, the playing of the play, to be fulfilled, to realise social change-for-the-better to embrace freedom of expression. We might not make the world a better place after all!

Inclusion and inclusive are among the first words I would like to see disappear but only due to a newly realised lack of necessity to use them in the first place. Until then, sensitivity around language is key,

as ambassador and patron Ella Glendining points out:

When you … engage with disability … (the definition is wider than you think!), it’s essential to use the social model of disability. According to Scope, the social model of disability is a way of viewing the world, developed by disabled people. The model says that people are disabled by barriers in society, not by their “condition”. Barriers can be physical, like buildings not having accessible toilets, or films without captions. Or they can be caused by attitudes, like assuming disabled people can’t do certain things. “The social model helps us recognise barriers that make life harder for disabled people.  Removing these barriers creates equality and offers disabled people more independence, choice and control.” 

Catch up with Ella on our ambassador and patron page and we’d love to hear from anyone about their lived experiences and how we can work together to educate ourselves and each other to move forwards in peace.

To end here, for now, lets crack on with the unfettered telling of human stories, created by everyone, whether played out on stage, realised on canvas, screen or via any other artistic medium for that matter … all together … Total Ensemble

Rebecca Chapman
Founder and Artistic Director
Total Ensemble Theatre Company