Angela Twigg: Why I set up InteGreat Theatre

I am Angela Twigg, coordinator and director of InteGreat Theatre. InteGreat is a community theatre group for Deaf and hearing adults that aims to break down the barriers and bridge the gap between the Deaf and hearing communities through performance and drama and promote the use of sign language.

InteGreat theatre developed from a youth drama club that I started volunteering with in 2001 that I eventually started running then developed into what it is today.

My passion for what I do comes from my own experience of growing up partially Deaf & experiencing the isolation, lack of understanding, access and support I should have received. I was labelled a naughty child who didn’t pay attention and my education and development suffered as a result. 

After school I went on to pursue a career in performing arts and I studied theatre in education/community performance which focuses on educating through drama which I believe to be the best way to learn.

Drama helps so many people. I believe drama is a medium that touches people on many levels, whether to educate, provoke thought, empower or simply entertain.

I have learnt how powerful drama can be, reaching out to people no matter what race, culture, age or ability. I believe drama can change people’s lives.

Throughout my work life experiences I have collaborated on projected with various companies such as Graeae Theatre company and Deafinitely Theatre, and ran drama projects for NDCS, Women in Theatre, Action on Hearing Loss, Birmingham REP Theatre, Hippodrome Theatre to name just a few.

To tell you more about InteGreat, it was founded in 2010 when a Deaf person wanted to join a local drama group but found nothing. Her boss from ‘Service Birmingham’ decided to help her find somewhere. They found us who at the time were a youth theatre for Deaf and hearing young people called ‘Words, Signs & Vibes’ that I had been running since 2005.

Service Birmingham came to meet us and asked if they could secure us funding would we set up an adult drama group and we of course said ‘YES’. The funding was successful and InteGreat Theatre was born.

We are an inclusive group open to adults of all ages, races, abilities, disabilities and sexualities and promote equality and integration between the Deaf and hearing communities, through drama and performance.Members don’t need any previous experience of drama and they don’t need to know sign language to join.

Our members are diverse and unique, our eldest member is in her late 70’s and our youngest member is in their early 20’s.

One of our members is a wheel chair user and another member doesn’t have a language but uses mime to communicate. We have developed a strong bond and the group now feels like we are a family.

We believe Deaf people can do anything apart from learn to hear, however hearing people can learn to sign to make the world a more inclusive place for us all to live in, without barriers.

InteGreat is group led, so the group decides what they want to perform and workshops are facilitated so their ideas are included in the creative process. Because deaf people can face many barriers in their lives due to communication we aim to create a space without barriers. We teach all new members Deaf awareness and there is a fully qualified interpreter and volunteer CSW’s (Communication Support Workers) at every session. Our exercises and games are specially adapted to be accessible to all.

Past projects include ‘MiRRoR’ that was a piece we devised ourselves about what the world would be like if Deaf people were the majority and hearing people the minority.

Also one member had the idea of making a musical about the game Monopoly. We called this ‘Monopoly the Musical. The group took part in workshops to bring the characters to live and develop a story. We also made an exact replica of the monopoly board as a 5m x 5m floor cloth.

A few years ago we took a break, however after reforming to put on a tribute performance to a member who sadly passed away, it has ignited the fire in our bellies to start up again so InteGreat Theatre is BACK with a new show!

You’ve seen Mamma Mia, you’ve seen The Greatest Showman, well we bring you ‘The InteGREATEST Show’ a mixture of well known songs by well known famous singers that we are signing in British Sign Language and acting out to visually show the meaning of the songs and tell OUR STORY! We want to make music more accessible to Deaf and hard of hearing people.

The InteGREATEST show will be on Sunday 16th June 2019 at 5pm and 7pm at MAC (Midlands Arts Centre) Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham. Tickets are from £4 – £8 to book see link:

 https://macbirmingham.co.uk/event/the-integreatest-show

We have also received funding from Ageing Better and Tesco’s bags of help to have our own float at Birmingham Pride Parade on Saturday 25th May at 12pm (FREE EVENT!)

We will be performing a sample of a few songs from our show. We are asking for people to come along and join us to hand out our show leaflets and sign along with us to try and encourage more people to start learning sign language and get us recognised in the wider community.

In a final note, we have secured funding from the Lottery ‘Awards for All’ until June and now need to raise the funds to continue.

We created this appeal video of a sign song version of ‘This is me’ to help raise awareness of our group and the valuable work we do. Our story/translation includes memories of being bullied, feeling of rejection from being adopted, being labelled disabled and judged as different to everyone else when we feel the same and being told you have cancer as a teenager. You can view the clip here:

The money raised will enable us to run our weekly sessions. The biggest expense we have to find is to pay for the fully qualified sign language interpreters we have at each session and the performances. In addition to that we need costs to cover room hire, volunteer expenses, set, props and costume, Theatre and technician hire, facilitator costs, promotion and publicity, insurance etc.

If you are able to support us, we have set up a Just Giving page here: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/integreattheatre

For more info or to join InteGreat email angela@integreattheatre.org.uk or follow us on facebook https://www.facebook.com/InteGreatTheatre/

Angela is the coordinator and director of InteGreat Theatre. Her passion for InteGreat and signed theatre comes from becoming deafened at age 3 after being ill with measles. After leaving school she went onto further education to study community performance and theatre in education which is a process that uses interactive theatre/drama practices to help aid the educational process.