EJ Raymond: Pantomimes shouldn’t mock sign language (with BSL video)

Pantomimes are very popular at Christmas in the UK.

Every year, in many of our theatre venues, they’re part of the tradition, famous for being fun, cheerful, and cheeky.

You can also watch EJ signing her views in BSL in this video below. Or scroll down to continue in English.

And everyone in the audience loves it, right?

Not quite. Let me explain.

I was invited to visit a pantomime by my lovely friend because they proved a BSL interpreter for that performance.

The BSL interpreter stood on the end of the stage (as always, as always!) as the show began, their costume amazingly colourful.

I laughed. My friend and her friend laughed. My son laughed.

Until the point when the main character (“Giggler” – we’ll call him) started targeting his dialogue towards the BSL Interpreter.

He seemed to be exploring the interpreter’s reaction, and started to get the interpreter to repeatedly sign the word ‘wage’.

For those that don’t know, ‘wage’ is signed with a clenched fist, moving towards the side of the midriff.

He started to say the sign again and again at speed, forcing the interpreter to sign it faster and faster, which made it look more and more inappropriate.

The audience laughed more and more, but it concerned me that they might think it’s okay to mock BSL interpreters and deaf community through our sign language. Not to mention that children were watching. What message did this send them?

I’m aware that Giggler’s role was engaging the audience and keeping the energy going while the other actors were off the stage changing their costumes. I just don’t feel that Giggler should have targeted the BSL interpreter.

Giggler continued doing it, getting the interpreter to sign the word ‘wage’ and ‘honk’ (which can also look rude) for a long time.

After the show, we walked out of the venue’s exit doors and I noticed people looked at us as we stood outside, whispering and laughing. I felt unsafe. So I left with my son and friends in silence.

When I got home, I messaged the interpreter, to show her that I appreciated her hard work and also checked to see if she was okay.

I can imagine that she was exhausted and emotional afterward, after that happened. I enjoyed her performance, I take my hat off to her! She was as professional as she could be, that’s why I really appreciated her.

For six days since, this has been in my head, so I brought it up on Twitter and videoed myself on Instagram and Facebook over this situation at pantomimes, I wanted to know what interpreters and deaf people thought. The responses flooded in.

One deaf person replied, “It’s why I refuse to go to interpreted pantomimes for this reason.”

The interpreters responded that they also struggled with this. One of them said: “I have had this happen several times and it always makes me feel uncomfortable.”, another one responded: “Would they mock someone’s accent from another country for a cheap laugh? No, so, why is it OK to mock BSL? It’s offensive.”

Also one of them had spoken to the management but they responded: “everyone else liked it”. Not EVERYONE, it’s HEARING people who liked it. At least, hearing people who don’t know about deaf culture or have deaf friends.

When I read the social media comments, I was gobsmacked to read about people’s experiences at pantomimes.

My question is…

Do pantomimes ask the interpreter(s) for their consent for this kind of activity before the show starts? I think the answer may well be no.

So, now I know why I don’t want to go to Pantomimes’ shows anymore.

They’re mocking interpreters and mocking our language. They influence the audience to think it’s okay to do the same thing toward us.

They need to think twice or they might lose more of the deaf audience in the near future if they’re continually doing it. I think it’s time to bring up this situation to all pantomimes in UK to wake them up.

Pantomimes are supposed to be funny, cheerful and enjoyable. Not mocking, rude and making deaf people feel unsafe.

EJ Raymond is a profoundly deaf and non-binary gay single parent of two grown children. 

EJ currently freelances as an actor, writing for theatres/short films and is a published author as well as a BSL video promoter & Theatre advisor.