#ASL interpreting is not for me but like... ugh i would have actually really liked the ITP i think

[jinglejanglemornings]

why can't i just only take language classes and then they just give me a bachelors

[whitherwhence]

While both of these productions sound extremely interesting, and I would 100% love to see both of them, we gotta talk about the fact that they are made for hearing audiences.

I want to be clear that it’s VERY COOL to see sign language users on stage, and I LOVE how in the Hamlet production there are apparently varying levels of understanding and communication with Guildenstern (which is very appropriate for the play as a whole), and how in the King Lear production the interpreter is always there except when Cornwall and Regan are signing privately (which is also very appropriate for the play). I am FASCINATED by the implications of Cornwall’s interpreter turning on him like that! The trust that must be involved in such a close relationship! Ugh is this archived somewhere??

HOWEVER

Unless there is also closed captioning / surtitles, or a team of sign language interpreters who sign along with the spoken lines, or the entire cast signs everything, or there’s some kind of e-reader with the script on it or something — unless one of those things is happening or available or offered, then what we have is surface level inclusion without actual accommodation.

And I’ve seen this happen in person. I worked Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park in 2018, the year they did the Kwame Kwei-Armah and Shaina Taub musical adaptation of Twelfth Night (originally a 2016 Public Works project). There were lots of signs incorporated into the show, which I thought was awesome, but there weren’t nearly enough for d/Deaf and hard-of-hearing people who use ASL to communicate to actually follow what was going on (note that there were a few nights where a seating section was reserved specifically for viewing with interpreters signing along with the show, but it certainly wasn’t every performance). There were something like 75 members of community organizations cast as the people of Illyria, and some of them were ASL users, which again, really cool, I think the whole production was pretty inspired tbh, but aside from a few moments and one song (iirc), the signing was… window dressing? It was there, it was cool, it flowed naturally, I really like the idea, but ultimately it was not very useful.

(*Off topic note* but on the bright side for me as a queer person and a Shakespeare nerd, there was queerness explicitly expressed by at least two characters [who actually get happy endings holy shit] AND very heavily implied by a few others. Very appropriate for the play, obviously. It’s arguably Shakespeare’s most-obviously-queer play, but it’s so often criminally straightened for the straights. Anyway.)

Here’s a fairly good and short article about the production: https://variety.com/2018/legit/reviews/twelfth-night-review-central-park-1202891228/

And here’s one of those “montage” videos made by the theater, and about halfway through you can see cast members signing:

https://youtu.be/JoOXOFwIJvM

I feel like I need to tell everyone how brilliantly the Globe incorporated a deaf Gildenstern into the 2018 Hamlet and then force all of you to watch it

ok, so Gildenstern is played by a deaf actor, Nadia Nadarajah. he* signs all his lines, and either Rosencratz interprets for him, or the person he’s talking to says something that makes it obvious what he just said, depending. how each character reacts to Gildenstern is completely in-character and often hilarious

Claudius and Gertrude are intensely awkward around Gildenstern. they obviously don’t know BSL so they just gesture emphatically but aimlessly when they talk.

Hamlet, who of course is friends with R&G, *does* know BSL. he starts off by signing fluently whenever he’s talking to them but, as his distrust of them grows, he signs less and less until he’s only signing the equivalent of “fuck off” whenever he talks

Polonius just shouts really loud whenever he tries to talk to Gildenstern

it’s all brilliant and adds another layer of humor and pathos and you should all watch it

*casting at the Globe right now is gender neutral so I’m just going to use the character’s pronouns