Reassembled Slightly Askew
// 2016
.. Sound recording assistant
reassembled.co.uk
Reassembled, Slightly Askew is an autobiographical, immersive audio-based artwork based on Shannon Sickels’ experience of falling critically ill with a rare brain infection and her journey of rehabilitation with an acquired brain injury. Audience members experience Reassembled individually, listening to the audio via headphones while lying on a bed. The piece makes use of binaural microphone technology and spatial sound design techniques, causing listeners to feel they are inside Shannon’s head, viscerally experiencing her descent into coma, brain surgeries, early days in the hospital, and re-integration into the world with a hidden disability. It is a new kind of storytelling, never done before about this topic, that places the listener safely in the first-person perspective with the aim of increasing empathy and understanding.
Reassembled… was made through a 5-year collaboration with an interdisciplinary team of artists led by Shannon Sickels (writer & performer), Paul Stapleton (composer & sound designer), Anna Newell (director), Hanna Slattne (dramaturgy), Stevie Prickett (choreography), and Shannon’s consultant neurosurgeon and head injury nurse. It’s development and production has been made possible with the support of a Wellcome Trust Arts Award, the Arts Council NI, Sonic Arts Research Centre, Belfast’s Metropolitan Arts Centre, and grants from the Arts & Disability Award Ireland scheme.
In its 2015 premiere year, Reassembled had 99 shows across Northern Ireland, including at the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival (the MAC, Belfast) and BOUNCE Arts & Disability Forum Festival (Lyric Theatre, Belfast). It was awarded 5 stars in the Stage, a Hospital Club h100 Theatre & Performance Award, and been shared at medical conferences and trainings across the UK. It continues to be presented in diverse artistic and educational contexts, including as part of A Nation’s Theatre Festival in 2016 at Battersea Arts Centre in London where it was given 4 star reviews in the Guardian, Time Out London and the Evening Standard, and at the Tiger Dublin Fringe 2016 where it was nominated for 3 awards including “Best Design”.
Artistic Team
Writer:
Shannon Yee (Sickels)
Composer/Sonic Artist:
Paul Stapleton
Director:
Anna Newell
Dramaturg:
Hanna Slättne
Choreographer:
Stevie Prickett
Production Team
Producer:
Shannon Sickels (Yee)
Project Evaluator:
Andrea Montgomery
Performer/NI Tour Manager:
Stephen Beggs
Video Production:
Richard Lavery
Biomedical Advisory Team
Consultant Neurosurgeon:
Mr Roy McConnell
Head Injury Liaison Nurse:
Royal Victoria Hospital, Colin Williamson
Belfast HSCT
Performers:
Shannon Sickels, Mary Moulds, Dorieann McKenna, Miche Doherty, Matilde Meireles, Anna Newell, Mary Jordan, Rosie McClelland, Dermott Hickson, Hanna Slättne, Paul Stapleton, Paddy Buchanan, Maria Connolly, Matt Faris, Maggie Cronin, Stevie Prickett, Shaun Blaney, Isobel Anderson, Katharine Phillipa Holland
Audio trailer, listen with headphones!
Reassembled, Slightly Askew, Paul Stapleton vignette
