Reply to: Signers in the theatre

[BoredBloke]

Have to say I love watching people signing. I would love to be able to do it. I used to watch the programs late at night with the signer but the introduction of babestation put an end to that. Saying that I would be pretty annoyed if it was a distraction to the show.

Should have stood up and yelled 'how many people in here are deaf' and when no one put their hand up you should have requested the signer do one as it wasn't needed.

My wife started to learn it and then we had a child who couldn't see.

[northernladuk]

Have to say I love watching people signing. I would love to be able to do it. I used to watch the programs late at night with the signer but the introduction of babestation put an end to that. Saying that I would be pretty annoyed if it was a distraction to the show.

Should have stood up and yelled 'how many people in here are deaf' and when no one put their hand up you should have requested the signer do one as it wasn't needed.

[EternalOptimist]

watch it, youse two.

i'm signing at you right now

[GlenW]

has anyone asked a deaf dude what they think ?

Yes, but he couldn't hear me.

[BoredBloke]

I did but he didn't say anything. Not sure he heard me or was just ignoring me!

[EternalOptimist]

has anyone asked a deaf dude what they think ?

[BoredBloke]

So instead of watching the choreography on the stage they will spend all their time watching the signer and interpreting their hand movements - for something like Cats would appear to be a self defeating approach as it's mostly a visual show
Now a Rock Concert would be a different matter - would you say this should be addressed at say Glastonbury so deaf people can be accommodated?

Wrong - there are plenty of parts in musicals where the speech is an important factor to the storyline. That is why the signer is there. They will watch the signer and know what is going on, without the signer its a load of people prancing. While they are dancing I'd imagine that they would focus more on that. Add to that that fact that many deaf people can lip read and the singer tends to face the audience, then they can probably follow the limited lyrical content of a song easier than they could follow the dialogue of an actor who may not be facing them.

My point about the subtitles in an opera stands. Its about making it accessible. I can't speak Italian, but I have been to an opera performed in Italian and the subtitles allowed me to follow what was happening on the stage. Without it I would have been completely lost. It meant that I went to the opera, that they got a paying customer through the door - without the subtitles I would not have gone as it would have just been a few hours of fat people screeching at me.

[MyUserName]

Must have been this tour did you see it in Llandudno?- if so perhaps it's a local thannng

I saw it in Oxford in December. Absolutely awesome performance. They might have been a travelling group, to be honest I am not sure.

[Troll]

more brilliance.

they would do a mexican wave. obviously

Respect

[EternalOptimist]

How would it work for a chorus - would they all be gesticulating?

more brilliance.

they would do a mexican wave. obviously

[Troll]

Brilliant. Some of the greatest inventions come out of a moment of idle chatter

I am going to call this the FitzEO method :-

what you do is to incorporate the signing into the choreography. I mean, what do the performers do with their hands normally? they just get in the way so they may as well do something useful. Think of the money saved on a signer and Troll can watch Cats undisturbed, all alone with his memories, of the days in the sun.

How would it work for a chorus - would they all be gesticulating?

[Troll]

Maybe deaf people have the ability to look at two things at once, like other people.

so deaf people are also boss eyed...

[EternalOptimist]

Apparently Brussels didn't approve of the plan to gas all the people with disabilities, so now society is supposed to take simple measures to accommodate them

Brilliant. Some of the greatest inventions come out of a moment of idle chatter

I am going to call this the FitzEO method :-

what you do is to incorporate the signing into the choreography. I mean, what do the performers do with their hands normally? they just get in the way so they may as well do something useful. Think of the money saved on a signer and Troll can watch Cats undisturbed, all alone with his memories, of the days in the sun.

[Troll]

I saw Cats a few months ago and there was no signer there.

I have seen a few musicals (I take my mother at least once a year) over the passed few years and have never seen a signer at any performance of anything now I think about it.

Must have been this tour did you see it in Llandudno?- if so perhaps it's a local thannng

[d000hg]

So instead of watching the choreography on the stage they will spend all their time watching the signer and interpreting their hand movements

Maybe deaf people have the ability to look at two things at once, like other people.