PERFECT WORLDS
Perfect Worlds is a workshop programme for learning disabled people, delivered in care homes and other care settings.
Perfect Worlds replicates the politic, ethos and rigorous creative practices used to create our acclaimed theatre show Perfect Show For Rachel, bringing them into care and educational settings where disabled adults can create their own ‘perfect world’ over a series of creative sessions. Critically, this is a co-creation focused practice, so outcomes can widely vary and will be totally informed by the adults with whom we are working.
Perfect Worlds sharing, Autumn 2025
Autumn 2026
In partnership with Croydon’s Council’s Creative Health team, we’re delivering a Perfect Worlds programme through Autumn 2026. We will:
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Work again with two Croydon care homes for learning disabled adults, building on relationships forged during the 2025 version of the project.
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Hold 12 workshop sessions at each care home, with new participants taking the role of Director
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Hold a joint sharing at a local venue, celebrating, introducing the two sets of residents, and performing the ‘perfect worlds’ we’ve developed to an audience of family and friends.
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Hold two free training sessions for professional carers: Unlocking Creativity With Learning Disabled Adults.
Each care home group will work with Zoo Co artists to create their own responses to designing their ‘perfect world' - creating short solo or small group responses. Zoo Co has 10 years' experience working with learning disabled people on creative projects.
There may be (will be!) multiple creative outcomes, including live performance, poetry, visual art, music or dance. The sharing will ensure the people involved in each disabled adult's life have the opportunity to see what happens when we fully trust in disabled-led decision-making and creativity.
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2025/26
In Autumn 2025 we ran a Perfect Worlds programme across three care homes in Croydon. We delivered:
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32 workshop sessions across three care homes
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3 sharings, attended by friends, family, colleagues and other residents
Care staff reported improved self-esteem, and lower risk of social isolation in the people who took part:
‘Made her more confident in showing her skills even though most times she is quiet. She got out of her little shell.’
‘T was able to express freely and remember her past in growing up as a child. She shared all her special moments as a child and with the relationship with her sister and father.’
Care staff also reported gaining skills and inspiration from our time in each setting:
‘One resident who makes noises has always been to be believed that these noises were because he wasn't happy in his environment and he may have just been "singing". We will also be encouraging residents to lead in story time.’
Care home managers were surveyed about their residents before and after we visited; they expressed improved knowledge of their residents after we visited 47% of the time
You can read more about our 2025 work in Croydon here.
Whilst on tour with Perfect Show for Rachel in 25/26, we joined local communities and arts groups to lead workshops, training and discussions alongside the show, including Perfect Worlds workshops. These were supported by the Unity Theatre Trust. You can read more about that work here.
Background context for this project
Our 5* show Perfect Show for Rachel is directed live on-stage by Rachel, who is learning disabled and lives in a care home. Innovative tech enables her to control everything from a custom-built accessible tech desk on stage, which directly controls sound, lights, video, and of course, the action on stage.
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This show is about looking at what happens when we decide to step fully into Rachel’s world, and work under her leadership. The show aims to stage Rachel’s ‘perfect’ 75 minutes live on stage each night, and includes Kylie Minogue drag acts, fight scenes, moving stories from Rachel’s life, Rachel’s favourite snacks, interactive games, as well as times each night where the company simply pauses, comfortably waiting on Rachel’s next move. Rachel is an incisive dramaturg each night and directs a powerful compelling show, moving and challenging audiences to rewire their assumptions about disabled people as ‘participants’, and creating an urgent case for disabled leadership and decision-making.
We are confident that this show’s impact is profound and sustained, and that the process we used to make it has many possible applications beyond the show itself.
Now, we have created a totally unique engagement model for bringing the creative practices we used to work with Rachel to broader demographics, working with more disabled adults.
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