Signed Performances
British Sign Language Interpreted Performances
The key to access for Deaf people attending mainstream theatre is British Sign Language (BSL), the first language of some 70,000 British Deaf people. Research at Durham and Bristol Universities and elsewhere has shown it to be a visual-gestural language distinct from English and governed by its own grammar and syntax. Although BSL has been in existence and evolved through the centuries, it has only been in the last twenty years or more that it has become widely recognised and accepted as a bona fide language. Hence Deaf people who use BSL as their preferred language are now seen as members of a linguistic minority. This forms the basis of the Deaf community, which consists of many people in the UK who share the language and the common experience of being Deaf. Demographically it is concentrated in cities and large towns, but Deaf people are also dispersed throughout the more rural areas of the country.
BSL interpreted performances occur throughout the UK with the interpreter usually standing to one side of the stage interpreting the language used by the performers.