ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY EXTENDS ITS COMMITMENT TO SEMI-INTEGRATED BRITISH SIGN LANGUAGE PERFORMANCES
- Four semi-integrated British Sign Language (BSL) performances form part of RSC’s latest season
- British Sign Language tours before every show
- Free interpreted talk after the show
The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) is extending its offer of semi-integrated British Sign Language performances (BSL) for its latest season which will see the first performance start this month.
Snow in Midsummer, The Earthworks, Myth and Julius Caesar, will each feature a BSL performance which sees an interpreter work alongside the actors on stage, in costume as part of the show. Audiences can also find out more about the play with a BSL Theatre Tour which will give people the chance to explore a range of wigs and costumes from the productions. The one-hour tour will be led by a British Sign Language interpreter and theatre goers can also take part in a special free interpreted post-show talk on the play.
Snow in Midsummer, directed by Justin Audibert, whose Christopher Marlowe’s The Jew of Malta was the RSC’s first BSL production in 2015, will lead the Company’s fourth BSL performance. The play is a contemporary re-imagining of one of the most famous Classical Chinese dramas and the BSL production takes place on March 21.
The Earthworks and Myth are a double bill of two new plays which are part of the RSC’s Mischief Festival at The Other Place. Myth, a theatrical experiment set during a wine-fuelled evening as a dinner party descends into chaos is co-written by Matt Hartley and Kirsty Housley. The Earthworks by Tom Morton-Smith, who wrote the acclaimed Oppenheimer for the RSC is a funny and touching one-act play about a journalist and a scientist who meet on the eve of the activation of the Large Hadron Collider. The Earthworks will be directed by Deputy Artistic Director, Erica Whyman who also directed the Company’s first Shakespeare BSL performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream: A Play for the Nation last year. Both BSL performances take place on June 13.
Shakespeare’s political tragedy, Julius Caesar completes the line-up on August 14. The play is part of the RSC’s Rome season, which takes place in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre and is directed by Angus Jackson.
Erica Whyman, RSC Deputy Artistic Director said: “I am very pleased and proud that we are extending our commitment to integrated British Sign Language performances. I have been committed for a long time to working with Deaf actors and with BSL interpreters to integrate sign language in a way which is accessible to a Deaf and hearing audience. I was delighted when we were able to introduce this initiative at the RSC with The Christmas Truce in 2014 and then with our first Shakespeare on A Midsummer Night's Dream: A Play for the Nation in 2016. We have quickly built a receptive audience for this work so I am looking forward to this next season very much.”
To book tickets and for more information on the RSC’s access work visit www.rsc.org.uk/your-visit/access/assisted-performances/forthcoming-performances
Ends
Notes to Editors:
Press release issued 8 March 2017
For RSC media enquiries please contact RSC Press and Communications Officer Nurinder Mantell, nurinder.mantell@rsc.org.uk 01789 412657 /07920 541729.
Image of the BSL performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream: A Play for the Nation is available. Email Nurinder.mantell@rsc.org.uk
An audio brochure of the RSC’s latest season is available - www.rsc.org.uk/access/audio-brochure
Snow in Midsummer
By Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig, based on the classical Chinese drama by Guan Hanqing Directed by Justin Audibert
Swan Theatre: Until 25 March 2017
British Sign Language Performance: Tuesday, March 21, 2017, 7.30pm
British Sign Language Theatre Tour: Tuesday, March 21, 2017, 5pm-6pm
The Earthworks
By Tom Morton-Smith, directed by Erica Whyman
The Other Place: 24 May – 17 June 2017
British Sign Language Performance: Tuesday, 13 June, 2017, 7.30pm
British Sign Language Theatre Tour: Tuesday, 13 June, 2017, 5pm-6pm
Myth
Co-written by Matt Hartley and Kirsty Housley, from an original idea by Kirsty Housley.
Directed by Kirsty Housley.
The Other Place: 24 May – 17 June 2017
British Sign Language Performance: Tuesday, 13 June, 2017, 7.30pm
British Sign Language Theatre Tour: Tuesday, 13 June, 2017, 5pm-6pm
Julius Caesar
by Angus Jackson
The Royal Shakespeare Theatre: until 9 September 2017
British Sign Language Performance: Monday, August 14, 2017, 7.15pm
British Sign Language Theatre Tour: Monday, August 14 2017, 5pm-6pm
The work of the RSC Literary Department is generously supported by THE DRUE HEINZ TRUST
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