Stephanie Back: What it’s like acting on stage in 2023 in Cardiff

2023 runs until 13th of October at Chapter Arts Centre. Every show is captioned and there is also a BSL interpreted night on the 11th October. To book, visit www.chapter.org/2023.

Hi, my name is Steph. I am an actress and I am profoundly Deaf. I am currently in a show called ‘2023’ by Lisa Parry and produced by Illumine Theatre.

I play the role of Mary and this is my first ever professional acting role in which I am speaking, rather than using British Sign Language (BSL) upon the stage!

What I love about playing Mary is that she is so sure of her Deafness and easily asserts herself in the hearing world for her communication needs. She is a really focused and determined soul and a really interesting character to play!

I am the only Deafie in the room and I come with my gorgeous terps. I was given the opportunity to lead a brief Deaf awareness session at the start of rehearsals; this was really fab. It has been really lovely to see the cast and crew try to communicate directly with me too such as on our breaks as it really makes me feel welcome within the team.

I’ve also created sign names for the whole team which have been happily accepted. Zoë Waterman, who directs the piece, also took BSL lessons before starting the show!

When learning lines in previous shows I have found them quite easy; once I have worked out the final translation of the script into BSL the lines typically have managed to stay within my head without much more repetition.

I think this is because BSL is such a visual, kinaesthetic language that I find it so easy. Learning spoken lines has provided me with more of a challenge; I’d find myself saying the line out loud and then it felt like the speech would just evaporate into thin air.

I cannot hear the words that come out of my mouth and I think this is why it took a lot more time to digest them. I found that I had to link the spoken words to visuals in my head or use physical signs alongside the lines until I felt secure enough in script to take these visual aids away.

Tom Blumberg and Richard Elis are both amazing actors – the loveliest people to work with (just don’t tell them I’ve said this); but I cannot lip-read them to save my life! This is not saying anything about their lip-patterns however, as, try as I might, I cannot lip-read anyone!

During the show Mary boasts that she can ‘lip-read for Wales’ and it has been an interesting challenge at times to pick up on my cues. The shorter snappier lines are a lot easier in comparison to the longer chunks of speech; these we’ve had to break down and add in subtle gestures so I can pick up and follow which points I am meant to be reacting to should I be an avid lip-reader!

Alongside this we have been trying to find the balance between how much I have to look at someone’s face to lip-read but yet not making this so closed in (the audience are important too!).

Another part I love about the play is that it features two gay characters but it is not a LGBT story line. In a blog (https://www.illuminetheatre.org/blog/john-and-chris-relationship-in-2023), Tom wrote: “For me, it’s uncommon to see plays with gay characters, about a gay relationship, where the fact that the characters are gay is not the focus of the piece. I think it’s rare to see such a strong, monogamous gay relationship shown on stage and I really think it’s important to treat gay relationships in the arts like any other heterosexual relationship, in that it’s just there.”

It is lovely to see more and more D/deaf actors upon the stage and it is an absolute joy to be a part of this! Especially when the character is written to be proud of their Deafness and confident of their identity! I feel I have learnt a lot during these past three rehearsal weeks; a speaking role is very different to a signing role and it has been fun learning how to adapt to this new terrain!

2023 runs until 13th of October at Chapter Arts Centre. Every show is captioned and there is also a BSL interpreted night on the 11th October! I hope to see you all there! To book, visit www.chapter.org/2023.

Stephanie is a profoundly deaf artist and performer based in the beautiful Cardiff, Wales. She has a great love for theatre and all things colourful!