Theatre Captioning

Making theatre accessible to deaf, deafened and hard of hearing audience members

What can you make out from this piece of spoken text?

Credit: University of Manchester

This is what theatre performances would sound like to audience members with a hearing loss

• Body language & lipreading would give more information but...

• Amplification would not help• BSL interpretation only helps BSL users

What can you make out this time?

Credit: Makes Sensewww.makesensedesign.com

Who uses captions?• Deaf, deafened and hard of hearing

people who wish to access plays in English– 1 in 7 of the UK population, 9 million people

• People whose hearing is not as sharp as it used to be – 55% of people over 60 have age-related

hearing loss• Hearing audiences

– Anyone who has difficulty following strong accents

– Students who are studying the text of a play– People whose first language is not English

• 359 people in audience• 17 people booked for captioning

with box office (4% of total audience)

• 103 people returned the card to say that they had found the captions useful (29% of total audience)

• CONCLUSION: 25% of people using captioning do not request the service

The undeclared audienceNew Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich

Preparation of captions

Electronic script

Initial formatting

Imported to STAGETEXT

software

Attend rehearsals

and/or show

Work with DVD of show

Checks with prompt/DSM

Refinement of formatting

Attend dress rehearsal /

show

Final formatting

Double check queries Performance!

Delivery of captions

• Speech appears as text on caption unit(s) at exactly the same time as words are spoken or sung.

• Full text, speaker names, sound effects, music and offstage noises are shown

• Similar to television subtitles & opera surtitling but crucial differences: – Opera surtitles are above the stage & often difficult to

read– Both television subtitles & opera surtitles can be edited

down from the full dialogue– Television subtitles can come up ahead of the dialogue

and spoil punchlines / important plot points.

Benefits of captions

• Makes theatre accessible to deaf, deafened and hard of hearing people

• To enable a person with a hearing loss to appreciate the spirit, meaning and intent of the performance and obtain the same experience as a hearing person obtains in a theatre

• Fosters social inclusion

• A theatre is truly accessible to customers with a hearing loss if it has captioned performances, sign language interpreted performances and a good working sound enhancement system

The Captioned performance

STAGETEXT captionerat Bristol Old Vic

Photo: Mike Lusmore

Technical possibilities

Caption Unit Plasma Screen Projection

Centre photo from Chelmsford Civic Theatres

Text position

• Decide as early as possible (the model caption unit above is used in set models)

• Include everyone - lighting, sound, stage management, box office and front of house

• Allocate seats accordingly• Check lights, speakers,

safety curtain & sight lines

Caption units should be - • Ideally in the set• As close to the action as

possible• At about actors’ head

height

Caption unit model from New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich

Deafened actor Tim Barlow as Tybalt, prior to the captioned performance of Juliet and Her Romeo, Bristol Old Vic (April 2010). Photo: Mike Lusmore

15

Captioned performance of Little WomenSadler’s Wells

16

Captioned performance of Aladdin, The Wok ‘n’ Roll PantoNew Wolsey, Ipswich. Photo: Mike Kwasniak

17

Speech-to-text transcribed post-show discussion after

YellowmanHampstead Theatre

18

Warm-up prior to the captioned performance of Life is a DreamDonmar Warehouse

Photo: Matt Humphrey

Captioned performance of Miss Saigon at the Bristol HippodromeCaptioned performance of Miss Saigon at the Bristol Hippodrome

20

Captioned performance of Hansel and Gretel

Northern StagePhoto: Linda Borthwick

Making captioning work

• Making a commitment– Captioning works best when whole organisation is

committed– Giving proper support to captioners

• Promoting the show effectively – Include prominently on all marketing– Making links with local older people’s groups and so on– Making it easy for caption-users to book tickets

• Making sure it’s All Right On The Night!– Installing & running technical equipment early– Double checking position of text & caption-user seats– Customer care for audience members including deaf

awareness training for front of house staff

Feedback from our users

“This has opened up an entirely new world for me. The

sheer delight in being able to

fully understand a play is difficult to convey to a hearing person”

“ STAGETEXT has enabled me to go to the

theatre with my family once more. ”

“We didn’t talk about the captions. We talked about whether or not the death throes of the performers

were realistic.”

Questions?

Thank you!

For more information

Visit www.stagetext.orgEmail Lissy Lovett at

lissy@stagetext.org