Nadeem Islam: Why I’m part of a producing team hosting a one night cabaret for Deaf and HOH people (BSL)

The motivation behind why we wanted to set it up comes with so many reasons but I think most of all our intention is to amplify the deaf talent that’s not given enough platform to do their creative works and share their creations. It’s not fair to see artists having to fight for opportunities to perform or when creatives end up putting their creativity at the side!

Also, it’s time to celebrate our proud culture as a Deaf community, especially after going to work or social events or education facilities where we have to face the inaccessibility issues and the dinner table syndrome and more such things like that.

One Night in Sign is a night is for deaf people to come together, see their friends from all across the country, switch off the habit code switching and sign away. A Night in Sign is a teachable experience, a celebration of culture and a safe haven, take it from a Deaf man myself!

We also want to highlight a lots of questions from the mainstream – otherwise known as Hearing people – and also, we want to work with big name theatres who want to see Deaf content, want to learn BSL or want to understand the theme of inclusivity.  So here we are, we are here to deliver that!

Harry is the one of the finest examples of a hearing person who met Chris (who is deaf) on a theatre production, learnt BSL and then met me during a tour they embarked on – look at us now. New friendships have blossomed down to one person’s determination to learn BSL and embrace a new world and now new awesome projects are here! You have to invest in things in life for this kind of beauty to happen!

The call out for One Night in Sign is especially for Deaf and hard of hearing talent, whether you are a BSL user or have grown up using oral/English methods. We want to show the spectrum of deafness, and highlight all kinds of artists!

For the artists who choose to use their voice for their performance pieces, wonderful! We will also add a BSL feature to the performance such as Deaf translator, an interpreter and captions, so it will still be accessible for everyone!

I personally would love to see everyone apply and I would say a huge variety of talent will be perfect for this. It could be VV, sign song, poetry, dance, comedy stand up, a performance piece/skit. Even magic, juggling, rap, singing, a tightrope walk or an Elvis impressionist is welcome! Your piece just needs to be 10 minutes long, that’s all!

There aren’t currently any events like this out there and I hope we’re the ones to change that! I think the lack of accessible information in producing and creating and communicating with venues is impacting opportunities as people are not being taught enough and there’s little information for Deaf and hard of hearing creators.

Often the biggest set back when producing an event is fearful thinking! We went back to Streatham during the COVID pandemic and now after perseverance we have sold out The Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at Shakespeare’s Globe. It takes time, hard work and love to achieve things like this!

In 2024, I want to see more Deaf people leading tv shows, films and theatre plays. More please! Deaf creatives are here, and we have got stuff to show! I think we, Deaf Artists, need to stop waiting around for something to come through, we have got to go out there and create art and encourage others to collaborate with us!

For any emerging artists reading this, here’s my advice…

The world isn’t against you, they just haven’t seen you yet. Make yourself seen, in any form of creativity and communicate with others. Come to shows and meet the actors after the shows and learn from them and you might meet important people such as agents, producers, directors! Grab a drink and mingle!

Take classes, teach yourself skills and see what craft you find useful for yourself through books and movies and TV shows and theatre and more! And most of all, if stress and anxiety interfere with your life, take a moment, deep breath and talk to another person that you truly trust and then keep walking forward with a big smile! Have fun!

Nadeem Islam is a Deaf Actor based in London. One Night In Sign will take place at The Orange Tree Theatre on Sun 24th March 2024 at 7.30pm.