Read reviews of my creative work over on the reviews page, or find out more about my wider press engagement here
2024
Yes, it can be hard to get a restaurant table. But it can be impossible if you’re in a wheelchair – “And what can the rest of us do? “When you go to a restaurant tell them you know a wheelchair user who would like to visit and ask if they’ve got a ramp. The more they are asked about it, the more they’ll think about it” – Jay Rayner (with Jamie Hale) for the Guardian (2024)
Acting, disability, and the problem with lived experience – “Whether I’m performing or directing, many (if not most) stages are inaccessible to me as wheelchair user. To see this role [Richard III at the Globe] given to a non-disabled actor represents the exclusion of disabled people even from those roles that explore the interiority of our lived experience. The lack of opportunities for disabled people in theatre affects people in all roles and career trajectories.” – Guardian letters (2024)
2023
Trigger warnings are a gift when I’m writing for the stage – “As a writer, director and performer, [trigger warnings are] a gift to receive, empowering me to tackle challenging material in a manner that is head-on, confrontational and, yes, often potentially triggering, knowing that the audience has given informed consent to this journey.” – Guardian letters (2023)
The flaws in Nicholas Hytner’s plan to save the performing arts – “It is only through bringing together creative communities of people committed to the arts – whether through professional training, personal development, or any combination – that we’ll be able to really have the “best possible art.”” – Guardian letters (2023)
CRIPtic Arts extends development programme for deaf and disabled artists – “The artistic director said “progress is happening” but cited ongoing issues in terms of casting, inaccessible stages and a lack of captioned and British Sign Language interpreted performances, as the organisation announced CRIPtic Cultivate.” – The Stage (2023)
Artist who withdrew from event over wheelchair access urges pressure on venues – “Ultimately I withdrew because of the message it would send if I didn’t. I am not willing on one hand to try to run an organisation for deaf and disabled creatives and on the other hand sell us all out for a show, because that’s what it would have been” – The Stage (2023)
CRIPtic Arts founder Jamie Hale on ableism, active industry exclusion and why access matters to everyone – “The exclusion of deaf and disabled people is made invisible by an ableist world. Wheelchair users aren’t on the stage – because nobody has built a ramp. Deaf signers aren’t performing – because nobody has paid for an interpreter.” – Broadway World (2023)
Arts organisations launch All In access scheme – “As a disabled person, the challenges of booking appropriate tickets have often meant I’ve missed events entirely. I’ve been delighted to support the disabled-led development of All In, a scheme with the potential to transform accessibility across the arts.” – The Bookseller (2023)
2022
Poet and playwright Jamie Hale wants to do it all – “I want people outside the disability theatre sphere to give me opportunities… I fundamentally want access to stop being seen as an administrative challenge, and start being seen as a creative opportunity” – The Crush Bar (2022)
2021
Indies Flock To Rising Trans Disabled Writer – “An extraordinary talent […] with wry humour, dignity, and warmth […] Jamie’s amazing gift is to make the invisible visible” – Broadcast Magazine (2021)
50% of UK theatres streaming shows online revert to in-person only – “I feel very concerned that as the auditoriums fill up, theatres will decrease the amount they offer for live streams and it will become less possible for people living in rural areas, people with caring and parenting responsibilities, not just disabled people like me, to access the theatre we want to.” – The Guardian (2021) (also covered on BBC Front Row)
2020
“I found that I had to tone down some of the more angry sections of my show, because sort of early feedback was that I was slightly losing my audience, because they were either feeling like, we’re already doing the work, why are you yelling at us for doing the work? Or they were like, we’re disabled, and we know this already? Why are you yelling at us?” – The Barbican, Inspired with Jamie Hale and Hannah Gadsby, (2020),
“I used to have terrible stage fright. I think that I partly realised that people are going to stare at me, whatever I do. So I might as well give them something to stare at.” – BBC Ouch – Meet the Vulnerables, (2020)
Disabled theatremakers warn venues poor backstage access is damaging careers “There’s a perception that disabled people are being very demanding when we outline access requirements” – The Stage (2020)
2020
“I know that I push and pull at them, but that’s part of the journey, for me. I am excited by the edge of danger – that the only thing between me and disaster is my performance, and I love feeling a sensation that the performance is flowing, that we’re communicating, and that the audience is responding to the gifts I’ve offered them.” – Jamie Hale & Naomi Woddis, Naomi’s September News (2019)