Mark Sands explains the creative process behind producing theatre for both Deaf and hearing audiences.
The idea of theatre that places British Sign Language (BSL) at the heart of the creative process probably conjures up an evening of silence and mime. In reality, BSL-led theatre is as rich, powerful and expressive as spoken theatre. Deafinitely Theatre is a deaf-led professional theatre company using BSL as the dominant language but integrating spoken word to be accessible to both a deaf and hearing audience. Theatre is mostly made accessible to deaf people through either a Sign Interpreter standing to one side of the action, or through captions. In recent years, there has been a move towards finding a more creative solution with interpreters being integrated into the action and shadowing the actors on stage. For this, theatre companies such as Graeae have been at the forefront of aesthetically accessible productions.
Deafinitely Theatre is different. From an initial idea to the final realisation on stage, BSL is the primary language: a commitment that gives rise to an exciting and unique creative process. A new piece of work will start off, as with many other theatre companies, in workshops to develop themes, narratives and characters: the difference for Deafinitely Theatre is that these workshops will be carried out in BSL. From this, a record of ideas and dialogue will be kept on video and translated into written English, and a writer will be commissioned to produce a draft written script.
After further workshops, the final result will be a written script, sensitive to the needs of both a Deaf and hearing audience. On the page this can appear as a traditional scene of dialogue or a short description of visual action and sign, or better still, a combination of both. Come the first day of rehearsal, a read-through will take place consisting of both sign and speech with added support from interpreters. It is from this point that the rehearsal process veers off in a completely unique direction.
The script will be discussed, paying particular attention to the meaning and content of the text. It will then be translated back into BSL over the first few rehearsals. This process will consist of making choices of signing based not only on a literal translation, but also on the aesthetic visual quality. At this point, hearing actors will begin working on voice-over to match the BSL. In effect, the BSL is translated back into English and the script is adapted to match the BSL.
Its a uniquely collaborative process with the two languages of BSL and spoken English. Deaf actors will sign, as hearing actors voice-over; hearing actors will speak, as Deaf actors find a BSL rhythm to match. What emerges is a piece of theatre which is dependent on the close ensemble work of the company, probably more so than in regular spoken language productions. As a result, timing and rhythm are crucial to allow BSL and spoken word to work seamlessly together, and for Deaf and hearing characters to interact.
Its an area of work that is constantly evolving and each new piece of work brings about new challenges and opportunities to play with language. For our next play, which starts development in October, we are exploring how to offer Deaf and hearing audiences different scripts which have the same meaning. For example, a conversation between two hearing characters could be translated through two Deaf characters having a separate dialogue about what is being spoken. Both Deaf and hearing audiences are given the same information and meaning, but understood through very different perspectives.
Our golden rule is to never let the spoken word take over BSL. The signing must always take the lead to be clear, beautiful to watch, reflective of the character and their situation, and be theatrical enough to be interesting and visible on stage. Added to this is the importance of rhythm and timing in BSL, all of which combines to make Deaf theatre, and Deafinitely Theatre, a unique theatrical force.
Mark Sands is General Manager of Deafinitely Theatre.
t: 020 8968 1589; e: mark@deafinitelytheatre.co.uk;
w: http://www. deafinitelytheatre.co.uk
Deafinitely Theatre will be touring its new production Playing God from 14 June to 18 August and will play at Soho Theatre from 24 July to 4 August.