What's On

Raspberry Ripple proudly presents

That’s Why The Lady Needs a Ramp
Created and performed by Kate Hood
Directed by Alice Darling

An invigorating one-woman (plus!) ride into a contemporary life on wheels.

Meet Queen Esme of Collingwood; the eternal Aussie optimist living high in a high rise. Share in the daily ritual of Kerry the Coffee Addict. And then there’s Kate’s alter ego...

Starring Kate Hood, That’s Why the Lady Needs a Ramp is a one-woman (plus her onstage buddy) production proudly presented by Disability-Led theatre company, Raspberry Ripple. Auslan interpreted, it also features audio description included in the script, circus designed for everybody, a set with wheelchair access in mind and the lighting and sound is accessible for Neuro-diverse or Autistic people.

Bringing to life an array of familiar and quirky characters, That’s Why The Lady Needs a Ramp will delight and discombobulate, while paying tribute to the late great wheelchair-using comedienne, Stella Young.

Playing for a limited season at Melbourne’s Chapel Off Chapel this new Australian work is a deeply personal, very funny, and surprisingly universal show.

Launching in 2017, Raspberry Ripple (Cockney rhyming slang for Cripple) is a Melbourne-based Disability-Led theatre company. It operates around the Social Model of disability, which says that the barriers put in place by a world designed for “normal people” disables far more than bodies ever will. Raspberry Ripple aims to celebrate the deliciousness of diversity and apply it to existing and new work, while exploring and debunking the myth of perfection. Above all, it wants audiences to leave its shows having been inspired to question their constructs about disability.

This season is proudly supported by Arts Access Victoria, Creative Victoria and the Stonnington City Council

Written by Kate Hood
Directed by Alice Darling
Performed by Kate Hood, Josie Wardrope, Sam Gaskin, Sophie
Mcrae and Sam Aldham
Circus Direction by Kathryn Niesche
Audio Description by Sam Gaskin
Lighting Design by Richard Vabre
Set Design by Bronwyn Pringle
Sound Design by Chris Wenn
Costume Design by Jac Antcliff
Produced by Dans Sheehan
Stage Managed by Max Woods
Publicity by Sassy Red PR

18 – 20 August, 2022
Thurs - Fri 7:30pm, Sat 2pm
Tickets: $49 Full, $35 Concession
Bookings: 03 8290 7000 or online at www.chapeloffchapel.com.au/show/thats-why-the-lady-needs-a-ramp/
Venue: Chapel Off Chapel - 12 Little Chapel St, Prahran, Melbourne 

Duration: 65 minutes (no interval)
Age Suitability: 12+
Warnings: Adult themes and coarse language
Chapel Off Chapel and the City of Stonnington have comprehensive COVID Safe plans in place