Peek behind the velvet curtain of The Dirty Work, a new solo performance by Jo Bannon. 

Blending the tricks of the trade – a white rabbit, a magic wand, a puff of smoke – with her lived experience of visual impairment, Bannon invites you to glimpse a world where truth and illusion, performance and reality converge. Through delicate choreography and magician’s patter, which reveals more than it conceals, she unveils the invisible labour that shapes how we navigate the world – balancing effortlessly between what is seen and unseen. 

Through a Crip lens and with a trick up her sleeve, Bannon reveals ‘the dirty work’ that often goes unnoticed on stage and in everyday life. This isn’t just a magic show; it’s a meditation on visibility, disability, and the unseen labour we all perform. 

Say ‘white rabbit’ three times, and see the magic unfold before your very eyes!

Credits

Creative Team 

• Created and Performed by Jo Bannon 
• Director Gemma Paintin 
• Text by Jo Bannon & Gemma Paintin 
• Producer Amanda Fawcett 
• Sound Designer Dinah Mullen 
• Set and Costume Designer Katherina Radeva 
• Production Manager Sorcha Stott Strzala 
• Lighting Designer Chris Copland 
• Audio Description Consultant Charlotte Whitten 
• Magician Consultant Augusto Corrieri 
• Originally Produced by MAYK 
• Photography by Paul Samuel White

Partners & Supporters 

Commissioners & Presenters Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, Cambridge Junction, The Place, Tramway, Fabric, Theaterformen, NEXT Festival 

Funders Supported through public funds through Arts Council England and Unlimited 

This performance is part of THIS IS DANCE co-presented with the Birmingham Hippodrome in the Patrick Studio