Birds of Paradise Theatre Company
Birds of Paradise Theatre’s (BOP) artistic vision is of a culture where disabled artists are recognised for the excellence of their work, celebrated for the stories that they bring to the stage and are a vital part of the artistic landscape of Scotland.
Our purpose is to be an accessible arts company that produces world-class productions and projects that place disabled artists centre stage and to develop future generations of disabled artists. BOP believes that disabled people continue to experience a lack of equality and considerable barriers within society, including the arts. Our work exists in part to challenge and address these.
We are the only professional, disability-led theatre company in Scotland and we exist to:
- make world-class, innovative and accessible work that embeds Creative Access and is made by disabled and non-disabled artists, writers and theatre-makers drawn from diverse cultures to reach a wide demographic nationally and internationally
- play a key strategic role in Scotland’s theatre ecology and wider arts industry by supporting the sector to nurture the next generation of disabled artists, performers and audiences through addressing barriers to opportunities and involving disabled people in these processes.
Birds of Paradise Theatre become a registered charity in 1993, becoming Scotland’s first touring theatre company employing disabled and non-disabled actors. Since then we have been led by a number of visionary leaders and in 2012 we became disability-led through the appointment of our current Artistic Director.
Many original aims behind the formation of the company are still familiar to Birds of Paradise today: to employ disabled and non-disabled actors and other theatre professionals, to commission new work, to work in partnership with other organisations at home and abroad, to create positive images of inclusion and to encourage participation in the arts.