Signed performance provides access for Zoe
12 May 2010 "I wouldn’t go to a play if there were no interpreters. Or if I did go, I would go to sleep," says eight-year-old Zoe, who last week attended a signed performance in Wellington of Capital E National Theatre for Children’s production, The Farm at the End of Road.
Zoe is Deaf, and her first and primary language is New Zealand Sign Language. She attended the signed performance of The Farm at the End of Road with her mother, Bridget Ferguson, who is hearing but fluent in Sign Language. After the performance, Zoe told her mother that she loved being able to watch the interpreter, Thornton Peck, because "then I knew the name of each character and what they were saying".
She also enjoyed spending time with the other Deaf and hearing children who signed.
“When we left the performance, Zoe and I were able to discuss the treatment of the animals on the farms, and the benefits of healthy and happy animals,” Bridget says. “If the play hadn’t been interpreted, then Zoe would have left the show with a very different story to the actual storyline.”
Stephen Blackburn, General Manager of Capital E National Theatre for Children, says New Zealand Sign Language Week at the beginning of May provided the perfect opportunity for the theatre to launch what he hopes will become standard practice for its productions.
“It’s partly about developing new audiences for theatre but as a national company, it’s about access and providing a service to as many children as possible,” Stephen says. “We’d love to do a signed performance in each centre when we tour but that would require additional funding.”
Capital E National Theatre for Children tours to 16 centres from Invercargill to Kerikeri twice a year. One tour is aimed at two to seven-year-olds; the second tour is aimed at eight to 14-year-olds.
Stephen is grateful to the Wellington City Council for contributing to the cost of providing an interpreter.
For Bridget, providing signed performances is all about access. “The Farm at the End of the Road is a fantastic show with an important message, and Deaf children need to be able to access the story in the same fun way as hearing children.”
Bridget would like to see more theatre that was “Deaf friendly”.
“It would be great if at least one show per season was interpreted. Last year I saw a play called Words Apart. The play had Deaf and hearing actors, and was performed using New Zealand Sign Language and spoken English in such a way that interpreters were not needed. I would love to see more plays that use Sign Language as an integral and natural part of the performance.”