Truemag

  • Hearing
    • Ears
      • Glue Ear
    • Hearing Loss
    • Hearing Aids
    • Cochlear Implants
    • Hearing and Speech
    • MidLifers + Seniors
  • Connectivity
  • Parents
    • Child Assessments
    • Informed Choices
    • Child Audiology
    • Audiograms
    • Parent Stories
    • Agencies + Advice
  • Communication
    • Speech + Lipreading
    • Reading + Language
    • Bilingualism
    • Irish Sign Language
  • Schooling
    • Education Plans
    • Teachers
    • Creche + Preschool
    • Literacy
    • School Subjects
    • Peer Issues
    • Study + Work
  • News
    • Media
    • Blog
  • Home
  • Contact
  • About
    • What We Do
    • Caroline’s Bio
    • Social Impact
    • Gratitude
    • Testimonials
  • Get Involved
  • FAQ

Stagetext Debuts In Dublin

Stagetext, a captioning service for theatre-goers, debuts to Irish audiences this month at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. This service, which in 2008 will expand across Ireland, was devised in 2000 in the UK by three deaf theatre fans who were frustrated at missing out on the performing arts. Personally, I’m looking forward to seeing The Playboy of the Western World with captions. In the 1980s, my Leaving Certificate English class spent an afternoon at the Abbey, minus one person. Reason: lip-reading actors on stage is near-impossible and it’d have been a sheer waste of time.

Exactly twenty years later, the prospect of accessing the play at the same venue is ironic. What’s important however, is the assistance Stagetext will give deaf students and children. Plays on the school curriculum will become accessible to pupils of all ages and characters brought to life. As a result, the students are likely to gain a better understanding of the plays. It’s a whole new era in accessible theatre and the Stagetext founders must be applauded for their innovation.

Nov 20, 2007Caroline Carswell

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
Digital Photos Help Special-Needs Children LearnParent Question: Independence for a Deaf Child
Comments: 6
  1. Caroline
    15 years ago

    I’m glad to say the actors’ dialogue during Saturday’s matinee performance of The Playboy at the Abbey was 100% accessible. Stagetext successfully synchronised the subtitles with the actors’ line delivery to ensure everyone got the punchlines simultaneously. No mean feat.
    What really hooked me was the way the west Dubliners’ vernacular, peppered with a favourite obscenity, contrasted so brilliantly with the well-spoken dialogue of the two west African protagonists. Enough said …

    ReplyCancel
  2. STAGETEXT
    15 years ago

    Hi Caroline,

    Thanks for your great comments about the captioned performance of Playboy at the Abbey Theatre. You may be interested to know that another captioned production has now been programmed – Romeo and Juliet – on Saturday 1 March 2008, 2.30pm.

    Details are given on their website.

    Best wishes
    STAGETEXT

    ReplyCancel
  3. Caroline
    15 years ago

    In fact, StageText has used my feedback on The Playboy at the Abbey on their website – see:

    http://www.stagetext.org/news/article.asp?news.id=195

    ReplyCancel
  4. Freda Keenan
    15 years ago

    The Irish Hard of Hearing Association booked tickets for a number of our members for the Playboy. From comments received by our playreading group, the next performance (Romeo and Juliet) would be vastly improved IF 3 captioned areas were available, namely, centre left and right. The dialogue was too fast for us to be able to read AND watch the action on stage. Another comment was that the font of the captions should be larger. This was the ideal situation in the Dublin Theatre Festivals rendering of Hedda Gabler at the Abbey Theatre in 2006. The IHHA has a steady following at the Abbey but we need the script first to familiarise ourselves with the plot. Some of us attend the play with script on our laps.
    We notice that Audio description is more frequently offered at the Abbey and that Sign Language interpreting happens during one performance of every production.
    Hard of hearing people are not visible whereas wheelchair, deaf signers and blind patrons are immediately recognisable. We hope the Abbey will include facilities for HOH people at the design stage of the new Abbey. We would be happy to help with assistance re acoustic facilitation. We have very few members pleased with the Infra red neck loop system!
    Sincerely
    Freda
    IHHA Council Member

    ReplyCancel
  5. STAGETEXT
    15 years ago

    Thanks so much for your feedback. It is really important to us that we try and get Stagetext as right as possible for audience members, as often as possible.

    As you may be aware Arts and Disability Ireland (ADI) has purchased the captioning equipment which The Abbey has been using for its first captioned shows. STAGETEXT’s intention is to train up captioners across Ireland so the service is delivered independently of STAGETEXT and offered more widely.

    For Playboy of the Western World the actors spoke very quickly, hence the speed of the captions. STAGETEXT always advocates positioning the unit as centrally and as low as possible. A lot of people and technical practicalities are involved in deciding where the caption unit or units go.

    Sometimes, where STAGETEXT wishes to position a unit, i.e, the preferred and most accessible place for audiences to read, is over-ruled by a theatre.

    The font cannot be increased any larger than 3 inches per character. However I feel room for improvement at The Abbey might be achieved by better unit positioning in relation to where deaf people are sitting.

    Was Hedda Gabler surtitled, not captioned?

    I believe ADI and The Abbey are trying to programme as many captioned shows as finances will allow and this needs to happen in relation to the training schedule of the captioners in Ireland.

    ADI has two caption units (not three) the units cost in the region of £8000 each, so three is not really an option at the moment.

    As for Shakespeare on the caption unit (Romeo & Juliet on March 1) – STAGETEXT has been captioning Shakespeare for seven years and captioners are taught how to work with this text. The text will be scrolled as fast as the actors deliver their lines. Captioners do not necessarily copy the verse exactly as it appears in a Shakespeare text, but will prepare the captions advance to reflect the way the actors deliver and time their lines.

    Anna Castle, STAGETEXT

    ReplyCancel
  6. Freda Keenan
    15 years ago

    Anna Castle, STAGETEXT
    Yes, Hedda Gabler was surtitled (from German) right, left and centre as was La Tempete (from Canadian French – but only overhead with many a cricked neck!) during the 06 Dublin Theatre Festival.
    Miss Saigon at the Belfast Opera House (05) was StageTexted , left, right and centre. This was fantasic and gave us the impetus to look for StageText here in The South of Ireland.
    Surtitles this year with the Dublin Theatre Festival were relevant to rather kinky productions which some of us would have preferred to have missed!
    ADI and the Outreach Department of the Abbey Theatre in Dublin are giving us an open door re facilitating hard of hearing people. Our major problem is in securing Finace! We in the Irish Hard of Hearing Association have been in dialogue with the Abbey Theatre for a good few years now re facilitation and hope that we are finally on the right track.
    We looked for loop systems but have yet to find one theatre that comes up with the goods!
    In 2005 we opted for the StageText system as being relevant for people with an acquired hearing loss and also for those with weak English – I hesitate to say “New Europeans”!
    Shakespeare has always been difficult language-wise. However, with the adapted script and the possibility of adaptions in the captions, we can only look forward to Romeo and Juliet (with a lot of our memories at work).
    Re positioning of caption screens, I understand the concerns of the theatre cast and producers re location of screens. We hope to be happy with the location of screen/s for Romeo and Juliet. We need to get it right at the start otherwise we lose our future HOH audience.
    We look forward to further interaction with StageText.
    Regards
    Freda Keenan
    IHHA Council Member

    ReplyCancel

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

15 years ago 6 Comments Captions, Education, Hearing229
Get our Monthly e-Zine
Most Viewed
Group Games For Deaf And Hearing Children
33,289 views
Most Commented
“A Birthday for Ben” – A Story About Hearing
18 Comments
Archives
eBook: Teaching A Deaf Child To Hear And Speak

Teaching A Deaf Child To Listen Cover

Edited by Caroline Carswell

StatCounter Page Visits
About

Sound Advice

Sound Advice - formerly Irish Deaf Kids (IDK) - is an award-winning, for-impact venture geared to technology-supported mainstream education and living for deaf children and students.

Sound Advice

Categories
  • Captions (165)
  • Education (407)
  • Hearing (633)
  • Language Development (278)
  • Smartphones (87)
  • Telehealth (82)
Archives
Get our Monthly e-Zine
© 2020 Sound Advice. Sound Advice is registered in Ireland as a sole trader (CRO 506131). © 2007 - 2014 Irish Deaf Kids. Company No. 462323 | CHY 18589