Annie Becker: What sign integrated theatre can offer deaf and hearing audiences

Accessible theatre sounds, well, boring. To me access sounds like a door and it may well be a glittery, revolving automatic door but it is still a door into a room full of people already inside the building.

I want to take away the idea that there needs to be access for something that is ‘hearing’ at its core. Theatre itself is a construct based on movement and gesture initially and therefore should be open for all to experience fully.

Theatre has its own language and shouldn’t this language cross the borders of spoken or signed language and instead unite an audience in the understanding of concepts, of life experiences, which we can all share?

Here is where ‘enhanced’ performances come in. Imagine theatre as a cake. It starts out as a basic sponge cake with a story ready to be told and each thing you add, costume for example, adds a layer. As we layer up this cake adding movement, music and gesture, more people spot the cake and want a slice. So then we get to the icing and we want to add language. Ordinarily we add a spoken language of the country in which the play is to be performed. We can add accents to flavour the language, but ultimately we get the same old buttercream. This is where theatrical sign language can offer something different. 

Theatre sign performance uses sign, gesture and movement to express the speech, narrative and emotion of a play to a signing audience and also to a hearing audience.

Yes, that’s right, a hearing, non-signing audience can ‘access’ the signing and use that to better understand the spoken language. But how is this done? We are not talking about the interpreter standing on the side of the stage, although I often work this way, and I applaud the amazing interpreters out there who have whole scripts in their heads pouring everything out of their hands, usually in a one-off show. 

Rather than an interpreter on the side of the stage it is much more enjoyable and fruitful to work with actors on the stage to create an integrated performance.

There are a number of ways to make a sign integrated performance, so I will clarify the way I work but please be aware there are a variety of ways and means to create an integrated show.

I work in costume, usually in a pair with another sign performer,  and move around the stage as another character in the story. I can then ‘blend’ with actors when signing their words or ‘banter’ with them. Blending involves taking on their persona, their traits and their tone when signing. Banter allows for the actor to say something and for me to sign it but we look at each other, for example:

Actor and sign performer look at each other

Actor: ‘I ordered the red one, right?’

Sign performer: (signs) book red I order been right?

Actor and sign performer pause then sign performer nods in confirmation before they both move on to the next line.

Either blending or bantering will enhance the performance and both can be utilised at the director’s discretion. As the sign performer is moving around onstage and standing near the person speaking, a signing audience need not get cricked necks trying to flip back and forth between the signer on the side of the stage and the action happening several feet away. It also allows a hearing audience a greater understanding of the language, particularly with ‘dense’ text, such as Shakespeare.  

I have worked in theatre interpreting and sign integrating for three years now, having graduated from the University of Reading with a degree in Theatre Arts, Education and Deaf Studies in 2008. During the intervening time I worked in theatre as a stage manager as well as a freelance BSL interpreter and a tutor.

Finally the penny dropped in 2016 after having my first daughter that I should combine all my loves and become a theatre interpreter. It was as I pondered this that I came to realise that I wanted to do an enhanced version of this, making the ‘accessible’ element mainstream, seamless with its counterparts. 

In my opinion, the ideal version of this would be to have a mix of deaf and hearing, speaking and signing actors onstage allowing communication and language to flow. Realistically, in the theatre landscape that currently exists in this country, it is unlikely that this vision will be realised within mainstream theatre and so there is a requirement for sign performers, interpreter-actors to introduce signing into mainstream theatre.

There are some fantastic theatre companies out there that involve signing and/or are Deaf-led such as Graeae, Deafinitely and Fingersmiths. These companies are creating innovative pieces and touring them around the country. To be clear here, I am advocating for all theatre companies to include signing in their productions even if it is ‘added’ after, or at the end of, the rehearsal process.

So, from the start, I get sent a script (at least 4 weeks in advance of the show) along with the rehearsal schedule so that I can go along to see run-throughs. I work through the script at least three times: the first time I sign it and make notes of phrases or words that I need to clarify; the second time I have worked through the challenging aspects and can start smoothing out the signing; the third time I add the creative twists and the character. Ideally I will have a filmed version of the play to work with, allowing me to focus on the character traits and adapt the signing style to suit each character; occasionally these touches will have to wait until a dress run. 

I will see the dress run or see the show in performance and then I will be ready for the integrated rehearsal. Prior to this rehearsal I will have made notes on potential playful moments and what signs I might give to the actors. I turn up at the integrated rehearsal, explain my role and then we get started on introducing me into the action. Most actors, by their very nature, are good mimics and pick up signs very quickly. They are usually all very welcoming and are also happy to move me about the stage should I be in the wrong place at any point. 

Bearing in mind I will have only seen the action live possibly once beforehand, I have to work hard during that integrated rehearsal, not only to figure out where best to stand but also to persuade the actors to accept me into their band and to feel confident interacting with me. Here are a few of examples of how this worked out in practice: 

In one performance a couple of the characters were getting drunk onstage and so they passed me the bottle and one of them fell asleep propped against me. 

Malvolio in Twelfth Night is reading the love letter he thinks is from his mistress but is actually written by the servants hidden behind the furniture. He turns to check he is alone. I, standing by his side, duck at this point so he doesn’t see me.

In another performance the character forgets his line, the one which I am signing and therefore also forget, and he turns to me asking ‘line?’ to which I shrug and shake my head. 

All of these lovely moments are borne of a mutual playfulness and respect for the actors’ and the signers’ roles in telling the story onstage. 

Initially I was worried that the addition of signing onstage would put off non-signing audiences and I was delighted to get this positive feedback from non-signing audience members across several projects I’ve worked on:

‘I understood the language so much more actually seeing it.’

‘I didn’t even notice the signing after the first few minutes; it was just part of the performance.’

‘So was that character not in the original Shakespeare script?’

‘I felt it really enhanced the performance.’

…and there we have it. It enhanced the performance making it the cherry on the cake.

Annie will be performing in the following performances: