Steven Vevers-Webb tells us about ‘Big Dreams’ – a digital theatre project for young deaf people.

Icon Theatre and D-Live! are launching a digital theatre project – Big Dreams – which explores the unique challenges faced by deaf young people over the pandemic. Young people aged 11-14 will work with D-Live!’s team of artists through a series of workshops that will develop the young people’s skills in filmmaking, editing, 3D art and visual storytelling concluding in their own pieces of digital theatre.

Steven Vevers-Webb, Artistic Director of D-Live! Theatre company tells us more about the Big Dreams and the vision behind the project!

D-Live! Theatre Company was set up in 2016 and provides a range of services including; Digital Theatrical Productions in British Sign Language and English, Literacy Projects for Deaf Children and Young People in Schools, Community Projects and Digital Content/Films Online.

We’re thrilled to be running this project – Big Dreams – which is being led by Deaf young people themselves.  They’re in the driving seat!  It’s great that Medway in Kent is providing opportunities like these. This is an area with a large population of deaf people and it’s important to see workshops/events/projects for, about and being led by Deaf people themselves.

We estimate there are 1,000 deaf children/young people in Kent and so we’re very keen to attract them to this project and get them involved in the creative and digital arts. We’re so happy to be working with Icon Theatre and Theatre 31 here in Kent and running this project for deaf young people. We hope this is the start of more projects together in the future.

In Kent, there has been very little, if any, projects for deaf young people and so we feel these workshops are incredibly valuable and needed to support the younger generation, provide them with deaf adult role models and give them an insight in to possible career opportunities for their future.

So far we have done an Introductory Workshop at Thomas Aveling School.  All the future workshops will be based in the MESS Room at Sun Pier House. In these workshops, the young people will explore, create and produce digital content.  We aim to film in and around Medway to give the participants the opportunity to put their digital skills in to practice.

The young people we met at Thomas Aveling school have been incredible supportive and encouraged by this project. They first took a look at digital content and films that we at D-Live! have created before and then they were enthusiastic about creating their own stuff.

It’s so important to us that this project is led by Deaf young people.  We want them to shape the work they create and feel a pride and sense of ownership in the digital content. We also feel it is so important for Deaf young people to have this opportunity.

We recently completed a project called – “Big D Collection Stories” with KS2 deaf children – aged 9-11 – where we delivered arts workshops and created brand new stories, written by and created by the deaf children themselves through art, English and BSL.  These stories have now become a published book with art work all led by the deaf children themselves.

It’s been amazing for us to see deaf children feeling proud and inspired by what they’ve created.  We feel that Big Dreams will do the same for this group of deaf young people and we’re excited to see what they create.

We aim for this group to feel ownership over the project, it’s their ideas and their creativity that’s driving this forward.  They’re coming up with the script, ideas for how/where we should film and what the content should be.  It’s their project and their end product.  We hope this will inspire them and give them confidence in whatever careers they decide to pursue.

We have been lucky not to encounter any challenges so far! The project is just beginning and so we’re very excited to see how it develops.  Of course, Covid-19 and the pandemic has had an impact as people have been isolated.

We’re keen to see how this group develops working face-to-face, debating ideas, discussing, coming to consensus, working with external practitioners and learning new skills.  I’m sure there will be challenges to face and we’ll overcome them when (and if) they arise!

Personally, I would’ve loved a project like this when I was a young person.  There wasn’t anything like this back then for young deaf people.  There were sports activities run by FYD – Friends for Young Deaf and it was amazing to see different sports that you could have a go at, but there was nothing really Arts based in my time.

My first exposure to Deaf Arts – seeing BSL on stage – was seeing a production when I was at school and I saw a play about bullying featuring two deaf actors – Caroline Parker and Neil Fox.  It was amazing and powerful for me to see British Sign Language, my language, on stage for the first time.

My school followed the oral method of education – teaching deaf children through lipreading/listening – but my Mum was Deaf and we used BSL in the home and so I understood everything on that stage.  I was so excited to tell me friends what they were saying.

That moment made me realise that I could be an actor and work as a deaf person, using BSL, in the Arts. It’s so powerful to have those role models and I feel this project will inspire and encourage this group of deaf young people.

We’re currently seeing a growth of deaf BSL-using actors in mainstream film, tv and theatre and that’s great to see.  Nadeem Islam is one who’s been on ITV’s “The Bay” recently and is now working at the National Theatre.

I’m so proud to see the next generation of deaf actors coming through because of the platform that was created back in my time. I hope that this project inspires even younger deaf people and shows them that there are careers available for them in the Arts.

I think the Arts can be incredibly beneficial at providing a release and a creative output for deaf young people.  The pandemic has been hard for everyone but 92% of deaf children have hearing families and many of those do not use BSL to communicate with them and so I worry how many deaf children struggled with isolation, loneliness and a lack of communication during the pandemic.

I know that the Arts and running projects like this can help bring people together and create that sense of community that you can’t replicate online.

To continue with the theme of Community, we’re also planning a weekend Deaf Arts Festival in Medway, Kent later this year to bring deaf children, young people and their families together.

The forthcoming weekend workshops in Chatham will be held in the MESS Room in Sun Pier House.  They will be full of devising, brainstorming, games, discussions as well as members of the D-Live! Team coming along to give masterclasses on various skills including:

• Camera/Filming
• Editing
• Script preparation
• Promotion

Everything that is produced will be premiered at the Icon Theatre as part of their T31 Youth Arts Festival on the 16th-17th July 2022.  We’re so excited that it will be seen by an audience of many community members there and will shine a light on the talents of deaf young people in Kent.  Some may even be the next Rose Ayling-Ellis, who grew up in Kent, and win a glitter ball of their own!

After this project, we would like to see more Arts and Theatre workshops happening in Kent for deaf young people.  In London, there is one deaf youth theatre – DYT – Deafinitely Youth but there is nothing in Kent.

Our own local girl Rose Ayling-Ellis used to travel from Kent to London every Saturday to be a part of DYT and performed at the National Theatre Connections which I directed.  I was so proud to see her determination and commitment but London is a long way away.  How many other deaf young people like Rose are in Kent and would benefit from a Youth Theatre Group for Deaf young people?  It would be great to see something continue locally to meet that need.

D-Live! want Kent to become a Hub for Deaf people to come and attend arts events and so this project is just the beginning.  We’re working with MESS Room, Medway Council, Icon Theatre, Theatre 31 and others and are so excited about what the future holds. Watch this space!

Steven Vevers-Webb, Artistic Director

https://www.d-live.org.uk/