Interview with Alexandra James about ‘Stan’ – a new production that begins its UK tour this week!

Stan is a brand new production that began its UK tour last week. It will visit eight venues, opening in Manchester and completing at MAC in Birmingham. Commissioned by Z-arts and developed by Art with Heart the show has been designed to challenge preconceptions about deafness.

Stan was created “with the help of of over 200 deaf and hearing primary school children from Greater Manchester to positively demonstrate how we can overcome language barriers.”

Written and performed in English with integrated British Sign Language and creative captions, there are also after show workshops and education packs for audience members to take home.

One of its cast members, Alexandra James, is a deaf BSL user and tells us more about her role and the show itself.

Hi Alexandra! Thank you for talking to us. Can you firstly tell us a little bit about you.

Well, in May 2022 I will have been acting professionally for four years. I started drama for fun and then I discovered that acting had become my passion and I want to do it until I’m in heaven.

I was born hearing until I caught meningitis, unfortunately I ended up in Coma for a few days and lost my hearing on both sides but I’m grateful that I’m still alive.

I spent two years doing a Performing Arts HND at college but changed my mind about going to drama school so I transferred for one year to do Acting for Live and Recorded Media. Then at my final showcase my agent discovered me.

I have done so many things, for example I was a lead role in The Break – Oh Toni on BBC 3. I am so proud of myself and what I have achieved for the last four years.

In the new production of Stan, your character is Alex. So, what’s Stan all about?

Stan is about a boy called Sam who is going through a hard time as he just found out that his parents are splitting up and his Dad is not going to live with him anymore. He’s really struggling with it and it has affected him a lot.

Until he meets a girl called Alex who turns his world upside down!

Alex is a girl who is deaf and proud, confident and comfortable being high in the world. She has a very fantastic imagination, she loves dinosaurs and is an expert at them! Alex can’t help but to bring Sam into her own world and show him how much better things are when you use your imagination.

Is Alex a lot like you, or is she different?

Alex is profoundly deaf and uses a Cochlear implant. She is proud of being deaf, a very strong BSL user and uses speech as well sometimes. Alex is very independent, she doesn’t care about how people look at her when uses sign language, she is strong minded as well. She is very different to me. She is exactly the girl who I wanted to be when I was younger.

How is Alex significant in the show and how does she create an impact on Sam?

Alex is important in the show because, to me, she normalises having deaf students in mainstream schools.

The best thing about Alex is that you are able to see her doing visual vernacular when she’s playing with her dinosaurs and later, children will see her imagination on the set.

If Sam had never met Alex, Sam would be still in his dark place, struggling to deal with his emotions. He wouldn’t experience learning British Sign Language, see Alex doing visual vernacular or get to meet her favourite T Rex “Tracey” (who I named after my mum!)

Alex and Sam have the opposite personalities; Alex is strong, sassy, confident, creative, caring, loyal and wouldn’t let anyone bring her down. Whereas Sam is quiet, can be shy, and sometimes he acts so tough but really he is sensitive with a good heart.

What sort of deaf issues does the show cover? How did you feel about these?

Hearing people are lacking in deaf awareness and don’t adapt their way to communicate. It is time for them to put more effort into communicating with deaf people instead of deaf people having to work twice as hard to meet them at their end.

Knowing that Alex is so confident correcting Sam’s signing and taught him some basic Sign Language made me realise that I shouldn’t have to put more effort into listening and lipreading. I learned how to talk to communicate, so it’s time for hearing people to learn BSL and to communicate with us. It’s two-way street.

Working with a BSL consultant on the show, what sort of changes did you make or what did you mostly focus on to ensure an authentic portrayal of Alex’s language?

Personally for me, it is so important to have a BSL consultant because I cannot see myself signing and it is so nice to have a deaf view to provide their opinions and advice because there are things I wouldn’t think of.

The consultant has been able to add a little VV (visual vernacular) and I wish I had more experience in it, but then I realised I’ve got to have fun with it and start playing with it and start thinking about how to play the dinosaurs when you imagine them.

Also, we are thinking about which signs are best when we translate from English to BSL because I didn’t grow up learning sign language from a very young age. I personally sign a lot of SSE which I am not ashamed of because everyone has their own way to communicate with other people, but at the same time I need to remember how an eight year old signs so I am able to represent how Alex signs.

How have rehearsals been? Any memorable moments?

The rehearsals have been going really well.  I had a memorable and funny moment when Jon the director asked us to do very fast-paced run which was helpful because we tend to overthink and try to remember what was the next line. It was so funny because everything was so quick!

There is a part where Ross pulls me down and I was trying to bend my knees toward to the floor but I ended up going backwards and it felt like I did the splits which I’ve never done it before and I screamed! I laid down for five seconds and I was like “right I need to keep going” and I just kept going!

Also, in one part of the show I have to pack all my dinosaurs very quickly, but for some reason the dinosaurs decided not to go in my bag! So I kept trying and kept failing and then the next scene had already started because they thought I had already left the stage!

How are you feeling about going on the tour?

I am very excited because it has been delayed for two years but it’s finally happening! But I am super nervous about the Covid situation and the uncertainly it brings. I don’t want to catch Covid and would hate to end up cancelling the show because this show is fantastic and I know that the children are going to love it! They cannot miss the opportunity to see it.

What do you hope deaf or hearing children gain from watching the show?

It’s okay for deaf people to teach or correct hearing people’s sign language and you shouldn’t feel embarrassed about it. Hearing people (children and adults) should also put more effort into getting to know deaf people in their lives and they need to remember speaking is not the only way to communicate.

I love that Stan makes it normal for girls to play with all toys because the toys aren’t ‘boy toys’ or ‘girl toys’ and that is the perfect way to bond and form a great new friendship.

And I hope everyone already knows, but Stan show us  – it’s okay if you feel down about a certain situation and if you feel safe, you can open up to friends.

Were there any similarities between your own personal experience growing up deaf and the journey the characters in Stan go on?

Alex and I are completely different from each other because when I was her age my world was turned upside down because I had to leave and move to a different primary school. At the new school I was not happy and very quiet and shy, I had no confidence at all.

I am actually quite similar to Sam because my world was literally turned upside down and I met a deaf girl who brought me into her world and that’s when I start feeling happy and playing imagination games. It got me feeling so safe with her.

Finally, what advice would you give to budding actors?

My advice is it is never too early or too late to know what your dream is because when I was younger I wanted to be nurse and I never thought I would be an actress until I got involved doing a drama club. You only live once so you need to try everything. If you know what you really really want then go for it and get it!

Stan will be on tour from 10^th February until 20^th March. Tickets are available from individual theatre box office. For more details see:

www.artwithheart.org.uk