The pioneering actor and writer Nabil Shaban, who has died aged 72, co-founded the theatre company Graeae in the 1970s, which is now a firmly established platform for deaf, disabled and neurodivergent performers.
Shaban was born with osteogenesis imperfecta (commonly known as brittle bone disease), a genetic disorder that compromised the formation of his limbs, resulting in him being a lifelong wheelchair user. Finding little chance to pursue his own ambitions as an actor, Shaban, a self-described “natural-born rebel with an acting bug, who refused to take no for an answer”, set up Graeae (pronounced “grey-eye”) with a colleague, Richard Tomlinson, in order to challenge perceptions of disability. The name came from the ancient sisters from Greek mythology with one eye and one tooth between them. Shaban said: “We needed a name that was connected to mythology, to the breaking up of myths and misconceptions.”
