Captioned performances for deaf, deafened and hard of hearing audiences:
Click here to find out which performances in our current season are Captioned.
Visit STAGETEXT for more information on Captioning or to find Captioned Performances at other venues accross the country.
Captioning is a great way for anyone who finds it difficult to hear the actors speaking to still enjoy coming to the theatre. You may hear most things but if you need to see people’s faces to follow a conversation or struggle with certain voices, accents or styles of speaking. You will see the words spoken by the performers displayed as text on a screen on or next to the stage. You will also see the name of the character who is speaking and a description of any sound effects. It’s a bit like television subtitles. People who are studying classic texts or want to improve their English may also find captioning useful.
Have a look at the Captioned Performance clip of Aladdin in the right column
Read an interview with our Captioner Angela Bell in the Downloads section to the right
WHAT DO THE AUDIENCE THINK?
“Although I love live theatre, I had to give it up about 12 years ago when increasing deafness meant that I couldn’t hear parts of the dialogue, and the sound from available loop systems made listening a chore rather than a pleasure. Just recently, things have improved radically. Captioned performances allow me to read the words as they are spoken (like TV subtitles), or there is the choice of an improved loop or infra-red headphones. For me, the captioned performances work best, and they’ve given me back all the thrill of live theatre. I would encourage anyone else with hearing difficulties to try out at least a couple of the captioned shows. Hopefully you will get just as much pleasure as I have done. The New Wolsey staff are incredibly helpful with all aspects of disability, and there are discounts for people with disabilities too.”
Dianne Carruthers, Ipswich
“Myself and my wife attended the performance of the Hot Mikado in mid November which was captioned, and as we have a daughter who is profoundly deaf we thought the captioning was a really brilliant innovation.
We therefore booked tickets for the captioned performance of the pantomime, to which we took our daughter and she thoroughly enjoyed herself.
Although most television programmes are now subtitles and also DVD’s nothing can beat a live performance that she could follow word for word, Absolutely Brilliant!”
Mr D Godbold, Ipswich
MEET THE CAPTIONERS
ANGLEA BELL
Angela Bell trained as a theatre captioner through the See-a-Voice project run by StageText in 2009. Since then she has worked at the New Wolsey Theatre, Mercury Theatre Colchester and Theatre Royal Bury, captioning a variety of productions including Noises Off, The Importance of Being Earnest, The Hypochondriac and the Wolsey pantos Jack and the Beanstalk and Aladdin. She also participated in the StageText Discover Theatre Day at the New Wolsey in spring 2010, promoting accessibility in the theatre.
Angela’s professional background includes working with deaf learners as a Skills for Life literacy tutor and more recently as a Study Skills Assessor for Disabled Students in Higher Education. She has a BA Degree in English Literature from Southampton University and is interested in making theatre more accessible for deaf, deafened and hard of hearing audience members. She hopes to be involved in the StageText Community captioners programme in the future, training volunteer captioners to work in community theatre.
CLAIRE MCINTYRE
While studying languages in Edinburgh I began my professional involvement in the world of theatre, spending my summers involved with the Festival Fringe. During and after university I held a number of front-of-house and box office positions in several venues in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
I continued my studies in Leeds with a MA in translation and also worked as an usher at the West Yorkshire Playhouse.
In 2006 I moved to London and trained as a theatre captioner and have since captioned performances in London, and around the country, providing deaf and hard-of-hearing subtitles, and have also provided English language captions for Spanish-language performances.