Rebecca A Withey: The trouble with BSL consultancy (BSL)

With a rise in integrated theatre productions, television shows and films featuring deaf actors and British Sign Language, it’s only natural that the demand for BSL consultants has increased too.

Yet despite this exciting growth in the consultancy sector, several concerns have arisen between my freelance friends and I. There are a few points we would like to make.

The first?

Not every single deaf person has the necessary experience or skill set to consult. 

A children’s theatre show recently hired a deaf person as their consultant for a family friendly show. Following complaints from deaf audience members that the signs used were incorrect and out of context, it soon came to light that the person hired as the BSL consultant was somebody’s oral deaf relative who “knew a lot of signs.”

This person had never worked in theatre, didn’t understand how to integrate BSL into a script and most importantly didn’t have the cultural understanding of BSL or the deaf community to make sure it was fairly representative and accurate.

Being deaf and knowing sign language does not make you an automatic candidate for the role of BSL consultant.

Experience working in theatre, television and the arts is essential as well as being involved in the deaf community and up to date with current sign trends and norms.

Which brings me to the following;

Not every consultancy job is meant for you. 

In other words, when consulting – stick to what you know. I would not agree to work on a show translating Shakespearean text because I don’t have a strong enough grasp of this.

I was also recently asked to work on a high profile job involving football. I have an average interest in the sport, but I wouldn’t be able to tell you the BSL signs for various football terminology. It was beyond my knowledge.

So, instead I decided to refer the client onto a BSL consultant who had worked in sports and they did a pretty great job.

Consultants need to be more open about their skill set or a pecialist area and also speak up when they find themselves out of their comfort zone.

Yet even when working in your specialist area you may find producers and directors who disagree with the points you consult on. Which brings me to the next point:

Consultants don’t have the final say about the work carried out 

Whilst it may be easy to “blame” a BSL consultant for anything that doesn’t work within a show, it is important to remember that sometimes our advice is not taken by the client, who decide to go in another direction.

We often have no influence on the actors who are cast, for example. A colleague of mine recently worked in Germany with a deaf actor who had a small role in a show. The role called for a deaf actor to be able to sign but unfortunately this actor had exaggerated his signing ability and the consultant ended up having to teach them how to sign.

It would have been much easier if a consultant was used in the casting process to feedback on the actors signing proficiency. But these decisions were out of the consultants hand.

I have also advised agents in the past of ideal deaf performers to work with but in the end they decided to hire other actors and discard my suggestions completely, only to realise later on that they’d made a mistake.

When working in television, script ideas can also get changed dramatically when passed over to a hearing team and decisions that you wouldn’t advise on can also be made.

So, how do you go about hiring the right consultant for your production? Ask for recommendations.

Ask the consultant questions, find out what they’ve worked on and what their interests are. And most importantly – be open and transparent about the work that is expected of them.

BSL consultancy merges very easily into the work of teaching, translation, coaching, writing and directing. The more conversations we can have about what is expected from BSL consultants, the better.

What do you think? Are you a BSL consultant? What do you wish people would know about your work? 

Rebecca A Withey is a writer and creative artist based in the Midlands. She fronts the all deaf sign performance group Unify and is the Assistant Editor for The Limping Chicken. Rebecca is a Deaf, bilingual BSL user passionate about music and telling stories. Find out more at www.rawithey.com