Deaf News: Theatre performances in Derby to inform Deaf children about internet safety

A joint theatre project helping to inform young people about the potential dangers of the Internet will be performed in Derby next week.

There are to be three WISE non-verbal theatre performances held at Derby Live, Guildhall Theatre, Derby on Monday, March 21 and Tuesday, March 22 to which school children across the city and county have been invited.

The project has been joint-funded by Derbyshire police and the Police Crime Commissioner’s office and is particularly relevant for Derby as it has the country’s biggest Deaf community outside London.

The project includes two productions which are being produced by Sarah Gatford (Sarah Gatford Ltd) and directed by Emily Howlett from PAD (Positive about Deafness) Productions: WISE – Working for Internet Safety for Everyone.

Sarah Gatford said:

“There’s so much information available out there advising young people about how to stay safe on line but very little of this is accessible to Deaf and Autistic youngsters.

These productions have been created so that these extremely vulnerable groups can directly access the information through visual theatre which doesn’t rely on spoken word or sign language.

We’re scratching the surface with these shows but it’s a very important surface to scratch and our hope is that this message can change lives with young people being safer than they might have been before.”

Find out more about the project via social media:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/WISEtoTweet

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WISEProject2016/