BSL interview: Deafinitely Theatre’s Paula Garfield on The Vagina Monologues and raising money to tackle domestic abuse

Paula: I’m Paula I was born deaf. I have run Deafinitely Theatre for 21 years. Im one of the co founders. At the moment we are organising a massive fundraising event that takes place on September 23rd. We are raising money for an amazing organisation called Deafinitely Women.

They are advocates and support women across Derbyshire and Nottingham and also work with national organisations who have the same values of supporting women who have experienced domestic abuse.

I wanted to do this because last year I worked on our play – Everyday – which was linked to everyday abuse. You can see the poster here.

Rebecca: I remember that, the witchy theme!

Paula: Yes so for that I interviewed people who were bravely able to share their stories of domestic abuse with me. It became apparent that nothing has really improved. Nothing has changed for the better. It’s still the same. So I thought why not set up a fundraising event so the donated money can be used to set up a course to train Independent Domestic Violence Advocates.

There are only ten of these in the UK. It is expensive and hard to become trained as this and also work placements, shadowing as part of training takes a long time. So the funds raised will go towards this course and I’m hoping different organisations will attend for training.

Rebecca: That’s amazing. So it will be a one day event for this, the play itself is called The Vagina Monologues – it’s very well known! Why did you specifically choose that?

Paula: I actually directed it back in 2004. Almost twenty years ago! I brought in around the same number of performers – twenty- they weren’t professionals, they were amateurs who had all sorts of jobs, nothing linked to theatre! They were so keen to take part and even now still talk about the experience as a great memory. So I thought why not revive it, almost twenty years later!

I asked who would be interested in performing and so many were enthusiastic! I found an amazing group of twenty performers. Only four out of the twenty are professional actors. Some are real life survivors, some are advocates for women’s rights, some are even TV presenters like Yvonne Cobb!

Some are simply passionate about women’s rights so it’s a really diverse group with different backgrounds but they all represent so many. We open up to all of the minorities whether it’s race, ethnicity, we have performers who are from international countries too. Some are from South America, some are mixed race. They all use British sign language.

Rebecca: So these twenty performers, are they all deaf/ hard of hearing or is there a mixture?

18 are deaf (correction: 14 are deaf) with varying levels of deafness. Six are hearing but fluent sign language users. For example one is Clare Edwards.

Rebecca: Oh yes a well known interpreter…

Paula: Yes! She’s a well known theatre interpreter so perfect for this!

Jacqui Beckford is another one. I think it’s really important to represent so many global minorities. Moona Mohammed is involved and Raphaella Julien which is great to have this representation. We can’t have a white person voiceover for their piece, so luckily we’ve worked it all out.

Rachel and Laura are both professional interpreters and trained actors too! So it’s a really lovely group. There won’t be a voiceover all the way through, some will be without.

Rebecca: That’s interesting – so what do you have in terms of access?

Paula: The play will be captioned throughout from the start to end. In 2004 we didn’t have any captions for this play because it was a quick turnaround project with low expectations. We only sold 300 tickets for that, it had a much lower profile.

But now we have a higher profile for this show, more pressure, 600 tickets already sold! I really hope it helps to raise the profile for Deafinitely Women and awareness of deaf victims of domestic abuse.

This play also represents the power of women. Feminism, women’s rights, taking about the vagina – lots of women won’t talk about it.

I read an article from the Guardian newspaper which discussed what a vagina should smell like and look like – we don’t talk about this! We ignore it and get on with our lives. I found it really interesting to read. Even at school we hardly talk about it. So I feel the play is really powerful.

Rebecca: This feels like something that’s really groundbreaking for the deaf community – especially as you mentioned the word vagina, even I sometimes feel strange using the sign for it – it’s like it’s a taboo. Do you feel as a woman this is personally important for you?

Paula: Oh yes. I’m going through the menopause myself with many symptoms – foggy brain, hot flashes, tiredness. Yet nobody is talking about it! The deaf community hardly focus on what it’s like to be a woman.

Also I’m a mother to two girls. I think it’s important for women in the deaf community to realise that women are powerful. When I interviewed lots of deaf women about domestic abuse I realised they don’t value themselves enough. They have allowed abuse to happen for many years. They assume the perpetrator is right and they are wrong when actually the other person was wrong!

Any type of abuse is wrong. It shouldn’t happen. But they don’t value themselves. Some of them have very low self esteem so I hope the play is empowering and allows them to leave the theatre feeling good!

It’s not only women that need to see this but also the husbands, the brothers, the men. Women really are strong. We go through pregnancy, birth, menopause, periods, so many changes – men don’t.

Rebecca: That is true, I agree.  As a director is this play unique for you as they’re all monologues? What will you be focusing on in rehearsals?

Paula: Well actually I think the sign for monologue should be more informal like telling a story. Some of the performers have never performed on stage before, it’s their first time! I’ve told them it’s good to have anxiety as it gives us energy from the adrenaline rush. Even professionals get nervous. It is good to have nerves it means you care!

So on the stage the performers will be role shifting, telling the story, using role play. They’ve been working hard for the last two months working with a BSL monitor group to help translate. The interpreters have also given them plain translation.

Some can’t follow the English so our interpreters clarify meanings and translate the meaning so the performers work with this alone before being supported by a BSL monitor before I join in via zoom. Everything has been taking place via zoom before our rehearsals start this weekend (16/17th September.)

This weekend is the first time all of us will meet. Some have never met before and they will be performing together!

Rebecca: How exciting though!

Paula: Yes it will be a heavy two day rehearsal as we have lots to do before Saturday 23rd, the performance day. Some have never even stood on a stage before!

Rebecca: How nerve wracking!

Paula: Yes they might be overwhelmed so u hope the audience will be kind and look after the performers. I hope we have time to look around the theatre before working with the teach team to sort captions, light, sound and we are also having live videos for our huge audience to see clearly. It means we can show close ups and it will be clear and accessible.

Rebecca: Who is allowed to come and watch? Is it 18+ ?

Paula: I will be bringing my daughter who is 13. I think it’s important for my daughter to gain awareness, so really as a parent I can make that decision. But officially we are asking those 14+ to attend with parents and those from 16+ can attend alone. But ultimately it’s the parents decision.

There will be a warning that there will be some talk of sexual abuse, rape, war tape, some traumatic topics that the audience need to be aware of. Our website has all of these trigger warnings.

Rebecca: That’s good to be aware of – the trigger warnings for traumatic experiences. It’s a very sensitive topic.

Paula: Yes, definitely. Also we will allow people to leave the theatre if they need to take a break and return.

Rebecca: Wow. It sounds like it’s going to be an amazing show. It’s very special for Deafinitely Theatre to be fundraising for Deafinitely Women. I hope the rehearsals run smoothly and that the play is a great success.

Paula: Thank you.

Rebecca: Thank you for chatting to me about it.