Stephanie Back: Why the story of my trilingual theatre show Fow needs to be told

Fow is a digital play (watch it online) which is suitable for audiences aged 14+(due to strong language and sex references). You can find out more about Fow at takingflighttheatre.org.uk/fow and tickets can be booked online on a ‘Pay What You Can’ basis from Theatrau Sir Gâr or The Welfare Ystradgynlais.

Stephanie Back founded her theatre company, Deaf & Fabulous productions in 2019. Following a lengthy development period, their first production, Fow, premieres online later this month. Here she tells us more about the process from the perspective of being a Deaf artist, actress and creator.

The idea for Fow started in 2017 when myself, Elise Davison (Director) and Alun Saunders (Writer) sat down and started discussing why Deaf people in Wales have such limited access to the Welsh language… and now in 2021 I still can’t quite believe that’s grown into a full show that we’re about to share with everyone! 

My passion for Fow comes from my personal story. I was born hearing and became profoundly Deaf at 15; I couldn’t sign, and lip-reading was impossible. I was without language.

At university I started to find my cultural identity through BSL; I found a community where sign language was a first language, but BSL didn’t have the same rights as spoken English.

Moving back to Wales and exploring my Welsh heritage led me to discover that Welsh has suffered a similar treatment to BSL.  I felt this had to be explored, the politics, the oppression, the history – different but the same.

The transformative power of language and the importance of this in our identity is this project’s stimulus. We need a positive communication story now more than ever.

The journey to get the show to where it is now has been incredible. I’ve learnt so much along the way and the devising process we used to create some of the material was definitely a massive highlight for me; Elise came up with just the perfect scenarios for us to play with!

With so many different languages and cultures in the room all throughout the show’s creation it has been the perfect catalyst to explore where and how these languages and cultures can work together and where the communication breakdowns might arise.

Everyone on the team has been so passionate about the show right from the very beginning and Alun’s script that he has written from all of this is just phenomenal.

Fow began under a different name: I Said I Love You. The name change was such a big moment for me; “Fow” just perfectly summed up the show… the communication breakdowns… the Deaf story at its heart.

Bethany Seddon then took this and created the most amazing image for the show. Taking Flight have been a massive part of my personal development (as well as with this show of course!) and their support was really the motivation for me to start making Fow under “Deaf & Fabulous Productions”, (for which Matthew Wright has created the most amazing logo) and I’m excited to see what Deaf & Fabulous becomes in the future! 

As part of the process, I have worked with two amazing BSL consultants: Deepa Shastri and Fiona Nicholson. They have supported me with my translation for Lissa’s character, helped me to discover how Lissa’s signing style is different from my own signing style and what regional signs she might use because of where she grew up and who she has been influenced by.

It’s also been a learning curve of how to adapt signing for zoom compared to the stage; how do we approach placement and role shift inside a zoom box? What’s the best way to clarify the distinction between talking directly to another character or directly to the audience? I’ve loved it and learnt so much.

Deepa and Fiona have also worked with Ioan Gwyn (who plays Lissa’s brother Josh) and Jed O’Reilly (who plays Sion, the love interest) in very different ways. Without giving too much away about the play…  they’ve explored how Josh’s signing style might change at different points and how different emotions might affect how he chooses to communicate.

Ioan is currently studying for his level two BSL which has been a perfect fit for the level of signing we wanted the brother to have. Jed didn’t know any BSL at all when he joined Fow (which is perfect for his character!) and he’s consequently been given a lot of free reign with how he communicates when he is with Lissa. This has really helped with the development of his character; it’s also been the catalyst for many a hilarious communication breakdown! 

Tafsila Khan has also been coming into consult about the access for Blind and partially sighted audience members. Beth House will be recording some audio description for the show and Rachael Merry will be voicing over Lissa’s character in this version.

All the access joy! Sofi Nowell and Ysella Fish will be working on captions and Stephen Brattan-Wilson will be BSL interpreting Jed and Ioan’s characters so the whole piece will be fully accessible to BSL users. Elise and I have had many conversations about access within the piece… I always wanted audience members who don’t normally need access to experience moments within this piece where they Fow what is happening; but at the same time, I wanted audience members who usually need access (like us fabulous Deafies) to not Fow (because let’s face it… we’ve already experienced Fow enough!), it was a challenge to work out the best way to achieve this… You’ll have to watch to see how we’ve done it!

I’ve always been passionate about languages and cultures so putting on this show in BSL, Welsh and English is really a dream come true for me. The team are amazing at working around all the different languages we have in the space; Ioan and Jed started needing to pick up on visual cues like I’ve always had to do.

They’ve both been great and I’m very lucky to have their incredible talent on the team. Becky Davies and her design for the show… I’ve never seen a whole (zoom) room of jaws drop to the floor like that before in complete and utter awe at her design!

The whole team is brilliant; from the stage managers to the producer, sound designer, and of course my amazing BSL interpreters. It is massive privilege for me to have such an incredible, passionate, hard working team working on this show – I will never forget this experience and I am beyond excited for everyone to see what we have made!

And of course, it wouldn’t have been possible at all without Arts Council Wales, Unlimited, Taking Flight Theatre Company, Deafinitely Theatre, National Theatre Wales, Neontopia, Birkdale Trust, The Welfare Theatre, Theatrau Sir Gar and Elise Davison – who has gone above and beyond with her mentoring and supporting me throughout this entire process. 

So, come and watch Fow! I’d love for you to see it.

Fow is a digital play (watch it online) which is suitable for audiences aged 14+(due to strong language and sex references). You can find out more about Fow at takingflighttheatre.org.uk/fow and tickets can be booked online on a ‘Pay What You Can’ basis from Theatrau Sir Gâr or The Welfare Ystradgynlais.