Charmaine Wombwell: A Coda’s relationship to Theatre and BSL

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Not I, with integrated BSL, is at Battersea Arts Centre, London from 28 February to 17 March. For more information, click here.

One of the first things I get asked, as a hearing person who uses BSL is ‘Why did you decide to learn sign?’ and the truth is I didn’t.

It was no more of a choice than it is for most hearing people to learn to speak, because it’s my first language – my parents are both Deaf sign language users, so British Sign Language was what we used at home, and is therefore my ‘mother tongue’, as well as being a language I love and part of who I am.

The impact of being a CODA (child of Deaf Adults), varies from the obvious to the subtle. It meant that as I was growing up, I had a feeling of great responsibility, recognising at a young age that I could help my parents with certain tasks: answering the phone, asking for directions when we were out, that sort of thing.

It meant that when I was playing music or singing at the top of my lungs I was never told to shut up – I distinctly remember my dad turning his hearing aid off instead.

What I didn’t realise until I was in my late teens, was that as a budding performer, it massively influenced the sort of work I wanted to be involved in. At school I was never cast in the Shakespeare pieces, but the shows that were less traditional. I was subconsciously drawn to the  more stylised and often more visual plays.

I remember being so proud and glad that my parents came to see everything I was in, but also being frustrated and feeling guilty that they struggled to follow what was going on. I would often give them the script to read beforehand – it was unsatisfactory, but what else was there to do?

After studying Drama at university, then singing and writing for a band for several years, and then stage managing for Deafinitely Theatre, the itch of wanting to perform and make theatre returned and I remember very strongly feeling, ‘I want to make shows that my parents can understand’.

Working for Deafinitely meant that when my parents came to see what I was working on, they could truly access it.  It felt important to be able do this myself.

I went back into training at the London International School of Performing Arts (LISPA).  The training was based on the Lecoq pedagogy, working with the body as a starting point, rather than text. It was the perfect place for me to be.

We would have to devise pieces every week, often with no verbal text.  My classmates were from all over the world, spoke different languages and to make work that made sense to all of us was hard, satisfying and wonderful when it worked! I loved creating poetry with my body, using mime and creating visual pieces of live art. Some skills felt like an extension of BSL and my expressive face came into its own!

The training was life changing. It spurred me on to make a solo show, which I took to the Edinburgh Fringe and finally on to to Stratford Circus Arts Centre. It comprised mime, physical storytelling, music, BSL and eventually, creative captions.

I have since worked with Deafinitely Theatre again, but on stage in Grounded, and other projects with other companies which have nearly all included sign language or some physical storytelling in some way.

This journey led to me being involved in probably the most challenging project so far: working as the BSL performer in Touretteshero’s performance of Not I by Samuel Beckett.

It is the first show I have been in where I am solely performing in BSL.  The script is dense, poetic, terrifying and beautiful.  It is also enhanced every performance by Jess Thom’s spontaneous tics, often unpredictable and varying in frequency.

It was a daunting task, but brilliant. We worked with BSL consultant Deepa Shashtri to unpick the layers of meaning within the text, and then sew them back together with a mixture of theatrical BSL and physical storytelling.

Being part of Not I and working with Touretteshero is one of my proudest achievements. The show puts a disabled character centre stage and crucially, she is performed by a disabled person, and acknowledges the needs of a varied audience.

The BSL is integrated into the piece, we have had weeks of rehearsal together. The staging of the piece and the audience space is considered so that it is comfortable for a variety of bodies.

Every performance is ‘relaxed’, so everyone is always welcome.  Thinking back to my beginnings in the theatre world, to those school plays where I apologised to my parents for it not being accessible, I feel so glad of the changes that are taking place, and how theatre will continue to evolve, and in turn, hopefully our society as a whole.

Theatre is so often the place where ideas start, let’s hope the rest of the world catches on.

Not I, with integrated BSL, is at Battersea Arts Centre, London from 28 February to 17 March. For more information, click here. To book tickets, which cost £12.50 or £10 for concessions, click here.