Rebecca A Withey: Derby Theatre tell me about their newest production, Robin Hood and the Major Oak (BSL)

Last week I was invited into the rehearsal studios at Derby Theatre to catch a peek of their newest production, Robin Hood and the Major Oak. I was treated to a glimpse of a sword fighting scene and managed to meet several cast members and creatives for a chat too.

Derby Theatre is well known for being a leader in the field of integrated, accessible theatre and I was curious to find out how their latest show would differ from previous ones.

The last time I met director Sarah Brigham she was devising a script for the ‘Emperors New Clothes’  in a new way – by allowing improvisation in BSL to form the basis of the script, instead of following a traditional one in English.

This process, although insightful, proved to be exhausting and time consuming for all and so this time around with Robin Hood, Derby Theatre decided to do things differently again. After a call out and a research and development period with several writers, the theatre decided to employ a writer who already had experience working with deaf children and a fair knowledge of deaf awareness.

The result was an informed, realistic script with lots of room for adaptation and discussion. As well as integrating deaf culture into the script at an early stage, Derby Theatre also held a Deaf Awareness course for the entire cast led by Jean St Clair.

The deaf actors were able to contribute to points learned on the course and the feeling afterwards was that of equality and balance. “Now the deaf awareness was out of the way for hearing actors who have never worked with deaf actors or interpreters for, they could all enjoy being on an even platform and work together as equal artists,” Sarah told me.

Derby Theatre have also ensured there are two BSL consultants working on the show who were involved from day one of the process. Deepa Shastri, one of the BSL consultants told me,

“This is my first time working with Derby Theatre yet the process has been so much easier here for me. Normally theatres hire a consultant quite late in the rehearsal period. Here we have the time and the space to really enjoy being creative and make it a collaborative process. It makes my work easier.”

Watching Deepa work in a rehearsal with actors Mia Ward, Emily Howlett and Laura Goulden, it was clear how much collaboration is the key word here. As the actors and consultant experimented with a translation for a song, each of them suggested ideas and explored these before settling on final signs.

There was also a lot of consideration given to how it is possible to balance access with art. Can you make a song appear visually interesting but also make sense? Deepa elaborated,

“I’m always very mindful of the entire spectrum of deafness. We may have hard of hearing people in the audience who want to know the words, and then at the oppposite end we have BSL users who require more of a visual description.

We want the audience to enjoy the play and come back again, so it’s extremely important to bear this in mind. It’s not about just my vision – we are a team and we work together to ensure we get the best out of it for the audience.”

There’s a real sense of exploration in the rehearsal room and Phillipa Russell who plays Much in the play agreed,

“One of the most surprising things for me in this process was having the director ask me my opinion on a scene. I wasn’t used to this so I was like, ‘are you asking me?!’ – it was lovely to be asked for my input and once I got over the initial surprise I felt really comfortable offering thoughts and suggestions on other scenes too.”

In fact all of the actors had nothing but praise for their director, Sarah, and their sense of enjoyment and pride in what they were working on was truly palpable. Emily Howlett, who is the under study for six signing roles explained,

“A lot of directors could learn a lot from how Sarah works with us all. Over the years she has become so deaf aware and comfortable working with sign language users that it really makes a difference. Some directors worry about being offensive so they either don’t ask or they assume, but with Sarah there’s a real feeling of her leading us and encouraging us all to work together.”

Laura Goulden also told me how establishing basic deaf awareness for all actors and ensuring the script is realistic and considerate before rehearsals start really does make a difference to the whole experience,

“I’ve worked on several integrated shows before, yet this is the first time I’ve worked for Derby Theatre. Here, we have the freedom to just all focus on being creative artists, we feel so much lighter and it saves so much time!”

Donna Mullings, the second BSL consultant is also working closely with the Community Theatre which consists of 30 people from the local community, three of which are young deaf actors. The concept of a community theatre was exciting for Mia Ward but one that she sees as extremely valuable.

“It was lovely to see the community theatre members and how they get to work with us. I didn’t want them to feel awkward or nervous around us, so it’s great that we get to have rehearsal time with them and they see drama as something they can really enjoy.”

Donna added, “The community theatre members are given the chance to sign certain words during songs, this simple act really goes a long way in spreading deaf awareness and it means in the future the hearing actors will feel they’ve had a positive experience working with deaf people and using sign language.”

Leading the production is Craig Painting as Robin Hood and the villain of the play – the Sheriff – is performed by Adam Bassett. Mia Ward plays Maid Marian with Emily Howlett as her understudy on certain dates too. The whole cast is a mix of deaf and hearing BSL using actors and once again it is encouraging to see how deafness and sign language fit so seamlessly into the production.

As I witnessed a sword fight scene in the rehearsal studio, there was a real buzz in the air. The characters seem updated too. Not only is the Sheriff a mean old villain, he’s a deaf BSL user! Maid Marian is also so much more feisty and independent than I remember too.

Everyone seems to know at least one version of a Robin Hood production. And I am especially eager to watch this brand new version as it aims to portray the story of the rich vs the poor and materialism vs nature in an exciting, inclusive way.

Deepa calls the production a ‘visual feast!’ and actor Phillipa says ‘with music, dancing, comedy and fighting – it’s not to be missed!’

With all the groundwork that Derby Theatre have put into the writing and rehearsal process, I’m incredibly hopeful that this production will be one to remember – for all the right reasons!

Robin Hood and the Major Oak runs at Derby Theatre from 25^th March – 8^th April. All performances have integrated BSL and English captions.

For more details see: https://derbytheatre.co.uk/event/robin-hood-and-the-major-oak/