Award-winning Adelaide dramaturg Jamila Main is making their Melbourne debut with a courtside look at disability.

The actor, playwright, and disability advocate named by The Advertiser as one of SA’s Rising Stars presents one-on-one performance Benched at Footscray Community Arts Centre this month in Midsumma Festival’s And/Or program.

Benched is an intimate look at acquired disability which enjoyed three sell out seasons in Adelaide and the Riverland in 2021, and is made up of candid moments as Jamila draws from their athletic childhood and their body’s decline due to severe Endometriosis and Osteoarthritis.

Originally commissioned by FELTspace Gallery as a one-off live performance work, Benched was made from Main’s bathtub and bed as they endured a pain flare that lasted months.

“I needed to make a show in a way that was accessible to me. That meant writing the show in the bath and telling short, autobiographical stories.” Jamila says.

You can join Jamila on the bench in person or be zoomed onto the bench from your own home; there are also tickets to a digital pre-recorded performance of the show and Auslan interpreted performances.

Benched is playing February 10-12 at the Footscray Community Arts Centre. Tickets are $15 and are available HERE