Writer and performer Sophie Woolley’s second solo show is to tour the UK, shedding light on her personal experiences of undergoing cochlear implant surgery after twenty years of deafness.
Augmented follows her enlightening, and often conflicted, journey to being reintroduced to the hearing community and how this impacted her closest relationships. From her experiences of going deaf in her teens as a result of hereditary progressive hearing loss, to being able to stream music directly into her brain as a “cyborg,” Sophie brings to life the transformative power of her Advanced Bionics cochlear implant. Sophie is the director of Augmented Productions, the inaugural associate company of Told by an Idiot.
Augmented is directed by Rachel Bagshaw with movement direction from Rachel Drazek, who has previously worked on National Theatre Scotland’s award-winning My Left/ Right Foot (2018).
Writer and performer Sophie Woolley said, “I went deaf over 20 years. In 2013 I had a cochlear implant. It changed my life and the way I engaged with culture. I’ve been hearing, deaf and now I’m what I call a ‘deaf cyborg’. Having a cochlear implant didn’t just change my life, it made me see culture differently. There were no shows that reflected my experience of the world, so I decided to make one – to share both the joy and fear of becoming a cyborg. In the future, I think hearing people will try to be more like me, rather than me trying to be more like them.”
Augmented Productions is a new company set up by writer and performer Sophie Woolley. Sharing unexpected, tragic-comic stories and bringing joy and new understanding, Augmented Productions makes quality, accessible theatre. The company begins its journey with its namesake production, Augmented, which tells Sophie’s real life experience of becoming a deaf cyborg.
Listings information
5 – 7 March Royal Exchange Theatre
St Ann’s Square, Manchester, M2 7DH
7.30pm | £13 (concs £11 – £7)
www.royalexchange.co.uk | 0161 833 9833
