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“We hope it’s mildly impressive, but even more than that, that it looks doable” Jonny said at our final debrief. This was the end of a series of BSL integration sessions lead by Sarah Gatford for Scuffed Shoes’ upcoming production of ‘Do as I say, not as I do’. The plan was an ambitious one, and a mission the company have since admitted, was also absolutely terrifying. Two weeks ago, Scuffed Shoes had nothing but 5 pages of script, a repertoire of original choreography, and a deep-seated desire to fully integrate BSL into their project. Today, they have a one hour long show that, while they hesitate to claim is comprehensively accessible, is certainly thoroughly inclusive, from its heart-warming opening to its heart-stirring end.
Scuffed Shoes, Jonny McClean and Fern Chubb, started work on ‘Do as I say, not as I do’ just over a year ago, when they combined their strengths as professional actor and professional dancer to create a style of performance that discard’s genre in favour of choosing the form that best suits the narrative and emotive needs of their storytelling. The result is an engaging collage of dance, naturalism and physical theatre. In ‘Do as I say, not as I do’, the pair set out to create “the least dramatic show about a relationship, ever”, using movement and monologues to capture the small, often unremarked upon moments in a couple’s life. And the result of the mundanity is marvelous.
From marvelous to pure magic, our last two weeks of working with Sarah Gatford and members of the D/deaf community have transformed Scuffed Shoes’ show into a brilliant inspiration for how accessible theatre can be made. There seems to be consensus in the Midlands theatre scene is that is about time we all became more inclusive and integrated, and reached out to audience’s our current practices seem to fundamentally exclude. As one of these groups, the D/deaf and hard of hearing community are self-contained with their own language and culture, and Sarah often mentions that one of the reasons conventional theatre programmes struggle to engage with D/deaf audiences is the need for trust in the product. Quality inclusivity is key, and the only way of achieving it by is collaborating with and being closely consulted by members of the community itself. After a week of rehearsals, the Scuffed Shoes R&D team welcomed a small audience of D/deaf people to watch a scratch of the show, supported by the creative insights of actor and performer Rebecca Withey And Sarah Gatford herself, who works as a theatre interpreter and was creative consultant on the project. The lesson was clear, you do not need to be a fluent BSL user, or to fully translate your text into sign language to incorporate and reinforce a visual language that speaks to both hearing and D/deaf audiences. Like most grassroots companies, Scuffed Shoes had limited time and resources, and there was never going to be sufficient opportunity to learn BSL to a level that didn’t patronise its D/deaf audience. As Sarah reiterates every rehearsal, it’s not fluency in sign language that is key, but rather an awareness of the community and culture itself. Our notes were endless, our epiphanies frequent; of course you need to stand nearer one another if you want your D/deaf audience to see both sides of a quick-fire conversation unfold; of course it makes more sense to establish an object, subject or scene before describing what happens within it; if you don’t tap your foot in time with the rhythm, there’s no signifier that the music is on at all- of course! Each time, the lessons were both obvious and entirely new to us- “Of course!” was exclaimed again and again. “You work really hard, but it can be so simple” Fern and Jonny agree, explaining that the challenge of converting a piece of theatre into one that involves a wider audience isn’t in applying the lessons in accessibility to the production, but in beginning to comprehend what those lessons are in the first place. We all started this work painfully aware of our own ignorance, and the endeavour over the last two weeks has been to be educated by the interpreters and practitioners from the D/deaf community while retaining the sense and texture of the original piece. But what started off as a “wonderful tight-rope walk” turned into the dawning, delightful realisation that accessible theatre-making has nothing to do with compromise. Scuffed Shoes wanted work with Sarah to adapt their piece to engage D/deaf audiences and expected a struggle to make sure they didn’t losing the play’s strength as a peice of hearing theatre. On paper, and in that introductory run-through on our first day on the BSL sessions, the play did seem to rely on its textual wit. Jonny and Fern have spoken about their feelings of protectiveness over the humour of the piece in particular, as one of their creative remits is their irreverent take on contemporary dance theatre. But as the week drew on, the wordy jokes didn’t get cut, “they just became different.” The phenomenon is a fascinating one, the tenants of D/deaf sympathetic performance seem to revolve around specificity of content, efficiency of communication, clarity of the direction of focus, and the need for prevailing emotional expression. Perhaps it is not until you have to attend to each of these factors for access needs, that you realise that what you are really making is better, higher quality theatre, and the inclusivity of the product is merely a symptom of better theatrical practices. Far from becoming a product of compromise, Scuffed Shoes would argue that ‘Do as I say, not as I do’ is still the same show, just better. “It feels more like our show than it did before” they explain, and having watched the production adapt under Sarah’s guidance, I completely agree. There seems to be a wonderfully literal and precise attentiveness to detail within D/deaf culture that challenges hearing practitioners to consistently question their choices of proxemics, gesture and motivation. The result is a more precise and poignant performance for the hearing audience, as well as one that D/deaf audiences need no interpretation to enjoy. Just as international collaboration informs you as a practitioner and enriches your own toolbox of practices, so too does collaborating with the D/deaf community, for what working with D/deaf practitioners provides is an insight in to a comprehensive culture, that is right within our reach, and has a whole lot to teach us. Anyone with any experience of Scuffed Shoes’ work will understand that their practices may be especially suited to this sort of integrated performance. Because they are working without the confines of a fourth wall, and are constantly ready to subvert or mix performance styles, collaborating so closely with Sarah and members of the D/deaf team only broadened and enriched the language of their show. BSL integration lends itself quite easily to a great number of modern theatre traditions, but those companies bound to certain genres or forms may in fact have the more fascinating journey ahead of them, in trying to marry the conventions of their own styles with the needs of their D/deaf audiences. You may have to be even more ingenious with your integration of BSL, but “the fact of the matter is that it is doable.” And perhaps, unlike Scuffed Shoes, you’ll have the resources to spend more than a mere week attempting it! Even within their restrictions in budget and time, it has to be said that the naturalism in the end of their show is informed by its visual language rather than negatively impacted by it, and seems to conclude the production with a challenge to other practitioners: “You next. Try this out. Give it a go.” Even if some of Scuffed Shoes’ performances are not attended by a single member of the D/deaf community, the triumph of this sort of inclusive theatre is that they always could. And it is about time we all had that choice. ‘Do as I say, not as I do’ has a sharing at the Attenborough centre at 7:00pm on Friday the 22nd of September. Whether you are D/deaf or hard of hearing yourself, know someone who is, or simply want an evening of entertainment, I strongly recommend you go along; If you a theatre maker, performer or producer, I insist that you do. If Scuffed Shoes can make a start at integrated accessible theatre, then we all can.