Dr Stirlingshire’s Discovery, 2017. © Peter Dibdin
Lung Ha Theatre Company champions the talent and ambition of learning-disabled artists to make fabulous theatre.
“Lung Ha is a place where I can perform and practice acting skills and develop new ones. It’s also where I can make friends and have a social outlet. It also allows me to experience professional theatre and perform incredible pieces of work.”
LUNG HA ACTOR
We are Scotland’s leading theatre company for actors and theatre makers with a learning disability and autism. We produce award-winning productions and work with a year-round, large ensemble to develop their practice and remove barriers to participation in the arts.
We offer a range of creative opportunities for learning disabled actors. Our Pathway for Progression features six strands of work where actors can access training and performing opportunities in an inclusive and welcoming environment and on an established platform. These are: the Lung Ha Ensemble, Lung Ha Touring Company, Lung Ha Across Scotland (an online nationwide actor training workshop series), Creative Development (one to one skills development, mentoring and critical response), Sharing our Expertise (via our Access and Creative Principles Toolkit and workshop leader training) and Supporting External Opportunities (where the Lung Ha team prepares and supports people with their creative ambitions outwith Lung Ha).
Lung Ha Theatre Company began its life as Lung Ha’s Theatre Company in October 1984. A sixty strong team of performers with a learning disability, under the direction of Richard Vallis and Pete Clerke, created and performed their own version of the fabled Monkey stories (for a time the Company was called Lung Ha’s Monkey Theatre). The production was hugely successful and a new company and vitally important new theatrical voice launched onto the Scottish stage, now a vital part of it.
Since then, the Company has worked with over four hundred performers with a learning disability creating over forty original productions. The Company and has also worked with some of the leading artists and creative organisations across the country and toured internationally to England, France, Ireland, Poland, Sweden and Finland.
Some of the Company’s achievements include the Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS) for Best Ensemble in Huxley’s Lab in 2009 (co-recipient with Grid Iron Theatre Company) and for Castle Lennox, a 2023 co-production with The Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh.
“Being an actor helps me understand what it is like to be other people and to interact better with them in real life.”
LUNG HA ACTOR
Our Values
Lung Ha Theatre Company is a people led and people focused organisation. It is an organisation that values those with whom it interacts.
Artistic Excellence: our work will have impact and be of high quality.
Collaboration: we actively seek opportunities to work with new people and organisations, to learn to work in new ways and share our skills, knowledge and experience.
Integrity: we will act with integrity in all aspects of our work. We will demonstrate high levels of honesty, reliability, equality, transparency and professionalism.
Respect: we will treat everyone that we encounter with respect and courtesy.
Bold: we will be a brave and courageous company that pushes boundaries and gives a voice to people who may otherwise feel marginalised from wider society.
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