Play has signs for the deaf

Press, 1 November 1985, Page 5

Play has signs for the deaf

A chance meeting in an inter-island ferry last year has led to New Zealand’s first drama performance with sign language, to be staged at Hagley High School this afternoon. Fifteen months ago, the school’s drama teacher, Mr Sam Beveridge, noticed a woman in the ferry speaking to her child in sign language. Mr Beveridge had seen deaf actors included in performances in the United States and because of his interest in sign language he talked to the woman and her child. r

It was not until September that the two met again, when, by chance, Ms Madeline David telephoned Hagley High School to seek a job as an interpreter for the deaf. Mr Beveridge and Ms David felt there was a “glaring gap” in New Zealand for deaf theatre and so it was arranged for Ms David to interpret the sixthform production of “Middle Age Spread" for a deaf audience. “We want to set a precedent for New Zealand professional and non-profes-sional theatre to follow,” Mr Beveridge said. “0® main V

aim is to make the theatre more accessible for the deaf.” Accessibility may sound fine in theory, but how easy is it to interpret a play for the deaf? Ms David described the task as challenging. Signs for words that did not have any sign were borrowed from other systems, some were invented and many facial expressions were used. “The hardest scenes to interpret are those where there are six actors on the stage talking fiercely to one another,” Ms David said. The only way to convey

the right message to the deaf was to condense what was said and use facial expressions to show the characters’ mood. “When I first saw the actors rehearsing, I thought they would have to stop speaking so fast so I could keep up,” she said. ‘I soon realised they couldn’t speak any slower and I have had to get used to getting cramp in my

Mr Beveridge and Ms David said the deaf community would be the final judge of New Zealand’s first production to include sign language.