Liam O’Dell: ‘As You Like It’ to have fully captioned run – why can’t other West End shows follow suit? (BSL)

To see the BSL translation of this article, thanks to Signly, please click on the signing hands icon at the bottom right side of the page! Then click on the text, then swipe or click on the play button to see it in BSL. 

As You Like It at @sohoplace – yes, that’s the actual name of the newest West End theatre, opposite Tottenham Court Road station – will be doing what other major London theatres should be doing with their glamorous and glitzy productions, and providing captions for every single performance.

It makes sense for Nimax Theatres to do so. Ex-EastEnders actress and Strictly Come Dancing winner Rose Ayling-Ellis and former Casualty star Gabriella Leon both make their West End debuts in the new version of William Shakespeare’s classic play. A production featuring Deaf actors should be accessible to the Deaf community, of course.

Though I don’t want the involvement of Deaf and disabled talent to be the only prerequisite for captioning a whole run of a show. We will come and support members of our community when they’re up on stage smashing it – I sure as hell will be proudly signing my applause when I go and see Rose and Gabriella perform – but when I think about the open or creatively captioned shows I’ve reviewed in my time as an amateur theatre critic, so many of them have been because of disabled individuals in the cast and/or creative team.

We obviously need to see more Deaf and disabled talent in theatre, but why must we need to be present in the rehearsal room in order for theatres to consider access – access which goes beyond the single captioned, signed or audio described performances in a run?

We're happy to announce that every performance of As You Like It will be fully captioned for the entire audience for the entire run.

In addition, we are offering a BSL performance on Thursday 26th January. Register your interest at https://t.co/kXF3Chqvbq pic.twitter.com/OYpWJP1TN9

— @sohoplace (@sohoplacelondon) November 11, 2022

The decision to caption all showings of As You Like It at @sohoplace is a welcome one, let me be clear on that, but I just wish it isn’t a one-time thing for this one production. It’s a shame that I consider it highly likely that if Deaf talent wasn’t involved in this staging of the Bard’s popular play, it would just be another show with access performances limited to ‘one night only’.

Let this initiative from @sohoplace be a demonstration that so many people do not view captions as a ‘distraction’ when it comes to enjoying entertainment – an argument we’ve seen the institutionally audist cinema industry deploy in the past.

Research commissioned by the arts captioning charity Stagetext revealed almost a quarter of the general public watch captioned content ‘all of the time’, and I imagine many more have become accustomed to text on videos while scrolling social media. It can no longer be argued, in my view, that captions are a hindrance for many hearing people, not least because there are other demographics who benefit from the technology. Autistic people, those with auditory processing disorder, those for whom English is not their first language are just some other examples.

As much as access shouldn’t – and mustn’t – be framed around revenue and the number of bums on seats, there is still an inclination for arts venues to only increase their accessibility when it’s deemed financially viable or good PR to do so. As You Like It could be the production which starts the conversation around why such widespread access cannot be norm going forward. Productions such as The Solid Life of Sugar Water at the Orange Tree Theatre and The Boy With Two Hearts at the National Theatre have demolished the argument that you can’t creatively integrate access into the production, either.

Access in theatre doesn’t just require you to think inclusively, it can also encourage you to think imaginatively, too – and isn’t that the beauty of the performing arts?

If the access provision put in place for As You Like It continues beyond that one production, then theatre could thrive where cinema refuses to do so. With the freedom of choice to see any performance in the run with captions, I believe more people will turn up to experience the magic of theatre, not fewer.

Photo: @SohoPlace.

By Liam O’Dell. Liam is an award-winning Deaf freelance journalist and campaigner from Bedfordshire. He can be found talking about disability, theatre, politics and more on Twitter and on his website.