Matt Alton
I am a writer and performer based in Manchester, making work which explores the welfare system, chronic illness and the visibility of such conditions.
I was recently commissioned by the Lowry to create a remote performance, The Disabled Son, which asked: What if the prodigal son from the Gospel of Luke were disabled? What if, returning to his father to ask for support, instead of being welcomed with grace, he was forced to complete humiliating tasks to prove his worth? Combining storytelling with shadow puppetry, the performance explored the paternalism experienced by disabled people in Britain. The performance was a collaboration with Lily Mae Kroese and supported by Lowry’s Artist Development Programme.
I write prose which blends stories from my life with retellings of fairytales and religious stories, asking how things could be otherwise. The Blue Shoes, published by Disabled Tales, worked through how to use the fairytale form to tell a disabled story without relying on ableist tropes. I was chosen by Extra Teeth Magazine as their issue 11 non-fiction mentee, and I’m receiving feedback and guidance from my mentor Katie Goh.
My poetry has been published in magazines and anthologies including Under the Radar, Gutter and Broken Sleep’s Masculinity: an anthology of modern voices. A film-poem, made with artist Chris Alton, jointly won the Exeter Contemporary Award, and another was commissioned by Apples and Snakes.
I was recently commissioned by the Lowry to create a remote performance, The Disabled Son, which asked: What if the prodigal son from the Gospel of Luke were disabled? What if, returning to his father to ask for support, instead of being welcomed with grace, he was forced to complete humiliating tasks to prove his worth? Combining storytelling with shadow puppetry, the performance explored the paternalism experienced by disabled people in Britain. The performance was a collaboration with Lily Mae Kroese and supported by Lowry’s Artist Development Programme.
I write prose which blends stories from my life with retellings of fairytales and religious stories, asking how things could be otherwise. The Blue Shoes, published by Disabled Tales, worked through how to use the fairytale form to tell a disabled story without relying on ableist tropes. I was chosen by Extra Teeth Magazine as their issue 11 non-fiction mentee, and I’m receiving feedback and guidance from my mentor Katie Goh.
My poetry has been published in magazines and anthologies including Under the Radar, Gutter and Broken Sleep’s Masculinity: an anthology of modern voices. A film-poem, made with artist Chris Alton, jointly won the Exeter Contemporary Award, and another was commissioned by Apples and Snakes.