WIP: Jack Norris – To Those Islanders

Theatre
Producer, Writer

ABOUT

Written and directed by Jack Norris, with support from Arts Council England.

To Those Islanders is a haunting and heartfelt piece of physical theatre set on the island of Jersey. It explores our fundamental need to forgive, to connect, and to love.

The story begins in 1995 with Ava, a 17-year-old blind foster child from London who has lost her sense of self and become increasingly disconnected from her foster mother, Dani.

When Dani takes Ava to Jersey for the summer holidays, Ava encounters a forgotten lighthouse seemingly trapped in time. Inside, Ava meets Evelyn, another blind teenager, who leads her on an extraordinary journey of self-discovery, challenging everything Ava believes about herself…

Jack, together with his co-collaborators have been on an extraordinary journey with the show themselves. From research trips to Jersey to multiple research and development workshops with visually impaired theatre-makers, audio describers, composers and designers, To Those Islanders has become a rich collaboration built on creativity, experimentation and discovery

DEVELOPMENT TIMELINE
2018
Jack’s initial idea for a piece called Memories of the Marshland emerges from a session at drama school: Two blind characters – a story of friendship? Physical Theatre…?
2020 – 2021
Jack completes the first draft of Memories of the Marshland.
2023
Jack encounters physical theatre through the work of Gecko.
2023
Jack encounters ZooCo – a multi-award winning, highly visual, ensemble-led theatre company – and he trains with them as a movement director.

He starts to re-explore Memories of the Marshland again – feeling more equipped now to engage with it.
2024
Jack works with ZooCo on an ACE funded R&D exploring visual impairment and physical theatre at Jackson’s Lane.

Jack says: “My task during this ACE funded R&D was to: grapple with the relationship between Visual Impairment and Physical Theatre, to confront and name the contradiction that might feel like. To turn away from my usual ways of working, and discover new routes into physical expression with the help of fellow collaborators.”
ZooCo Sharing
2024
Dr Yusuf Osman joins the project as a Historical Consultant and Access Co-Ordinator.
2025
Jack reworks the story completely. Memories of the Marshland becomes To Those Islanders. How do the visually impaired characters genuinely affect the world of this story?
2025
Jack meets Jack Byron, who comes on as Associate Producer
2025
To Those Islanders is awarded ACE funding to conduct a research trip to Jersey, build organisational relationships, and explore staging the story.
2025
2nd R&D at ArtsDepot
February 2026
In the Lanteroom, a documentary by Noah Cox, is released which charts Jack and the creative team’s journey of bringing To These Islanders into being
2026
To Those Islanders second draft is completed
2026
Awarded arts council funding to develop audio description technology, and accessible set design at the Lyric Hammersmith.
THE WORK CONTINUES…

DOCUMENTARY FILM

In 2025, filmmaker Noah Cox followed the creative team’s journey over a series of R&D workshops that year, resulting in the documentary film In the Lanternroom which is now available in full here:

IN JACK’S WORDS….

Having spent the past 8 years immersing myself in professional Physical Theatre practice – it became clear to me that the style is highly weighted towards “the visual”. To Those Islanders serves as an opportunity to stretch, and genuinely challenge the ways Physical Theatre makers like myself and my collaborators approach story telling and creation.

I hope this project begins a conversation about how Physical Theatre can and should be more accessible to visually impaired artists and audience.

However, even more than that – I’m constantly seeking out the “radical equity” in the work. Can visually impaired artists excel in projects that are about things other than their sight loss? Obviously yes – but that’s not what the industry is currently demonstrating.

As a disabled artist myself, I know the next stage of embracing inclusivity as an industry involves hiring disabled professionals in projects not directly “about” their particular disability.

For example – To those islanders is a story about history, forgiveness, family and love. Not really about blindness – in fact Ava’s blindness is the one thing in the story she’s mastered.

Of course – in order to achieve this, and remove that barrier, a huge amount of planning and care has to be invested. For example – cutting edge audio description technology for the audience, tactile accessible set design for the cast, printed braille scripts for rehearsal.

As Theatre Makers – we can approach making work differently. Primarily, placing access at the fore front of our thinking from the very earliest stages, rather than an after thought. To Those Islanders is a way of interrogating and learning about this.

For more about Jack’s work, visit www.jacknorris.org

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