Captions open doors for hard of hearing theatre goers

By Jayne Warren - 06/08/2008

 Until recently, a visit to the theatre was an activity rarely enjoyed by the UK’s nine million deaf, deafened and hard of hearing people. 

 

But all that is changing with the introduction of captioning through a company called Stagetext, and their growing success means that more 
and more theatres across the UK are throwing open their doors to anyone with hearing difficulties - at no extra cost.

 

Prior to Stagetext’s pioneering captioning work which began in 2000, 
access to the theatre had been through sign language interpretation 
or sound enhancement systems - neither of which was very 
satisfactory. Now, eight years on, captioning has become an intrinsic 
part of many theatres and opened a whole new world to deaf, deafened 
and hard of hearing people.

 

Captions are similar to television subtitles, but include additional information such as indicating speaker names, sound effects and offstage noises, as well as vocal effects or accents that are crucial to the play. A captioner prepares the captions in advance then operates them live as the action unfolds on stage. Care is taken to ensure that the captions mirror the way in which the actors deliver their lines, including any pauses, and in such a way so as not to disclose joke punchlines or important parts of the plot too early.

 

Unlike opera “surtitles”, which are usually located above the stage, the caption unit is placed as close to the action as possible, either in the set itself, next to the stage, or as low as possible. This  enables deaf and hard of hearing patrons to read the captions and  watch the stage action with minimal eye movement and certainly no  head movement. Placing the caption unit at the actors’ head height  enables the deaf audience to lipread as well as benefit from the  captioning.

 

The captions can be seen by the whole audience which means that deaf 
people can sit and enjoy the show alongside their hearing friends and 
family.

 

Captioned shows are now available in over 75 venues, and many 
theatres are investing in their own captioning equipment and training 
local captioners, which is more cost-effective and means that 
theatres can develop local deaf and hard of hearing audiences and 
offer a greater number of captioned shows in the long term.

 

Fiorenzo Cecere, a theatregoer with hearing loss said: “Because of my 
deafness, I had shunned the theatre for 12 years because I didn’t 
feel I’d be able to follow stage productions. Then in 2003, I accidentally discovered captioning on the internet. I satisfied my curiosity by watching a Stagetext captioned performance of 'Abigail’s Party'.

 

“Going to the theatre has now become an exciting, surprising and a 
truly great experience. I go to captioned performances two or three 
times a month and meet many deaf and hard of hearing people who used 
to be theatre-shy like myself.”

 

Captioning performances for the rest of this year include: The Taming 
of The Shrew, The Revenger’s Tragedy, The Wizard of Oz, Grease, 
Afterlife, Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and an extensive 
autumn tour of Hardy’s classic - Far From The Madding Crowd.

 

When booking at the theatre, tell the box office that the seats are for 
the captioned show, as certain seats will have been held back in the auditorium which have the best view of the captions. Stagetext will 
also send out a postal diary every three months with dates, and your 
local theatre can also include you on their mailing list for future 
dated performances.

 

For further information on captioning, telephone Stagetext on 020 
7377 0540 or via textphone on 020 7247 7801. Further details about 
current and future projects and performances can be found on 
Stagetext’s website at the link below.