The research placement opportunity I was able to take up this summer was Shakespeare with D/deaf Children. Our goal was to update the Royal Shakespeare Company’s (RSC) Rehearsal Room Toolkit, a book of theatre exercises which help teachers bring Shakespeare to their students in new and engaging way. Unfortunately, some of the exercises would be challenging for a D/deaf child to engage with as they are aurally based. For the first part of my summer, my PGT research partner did some academic research, but one of our biggest jobs was to analyze the first three scenes of Macbeth and identify all the different literary devices. For the D/deaf, it is sometimes very difficult to understand these aspects of language as the sounds of language are illusive and sometimes entirely unattainable.
The most important, and most time consuming, part of our research was the Research & Development week at the end of July. Our team joined up with a D/deaf actor, Stephen, and two women who knew BSL [British Sign Language] who acted as translators and participants. Throughout the week, we explored the first three scenes of Macbeth without sound. It was especially interesting for me when Stephen encouraged us to create our own sign for the word “heath”, as many of the kids probably wouldn’t know what a heath was, aside from the picture on the slideshow. For much of the week I scribed, and I got into a nice rhythm of dictation. In general, it was fascinating to have BSL in the room with us as I know some ASL [American Sign Language] and some of the signs are similar, I was able to pick up some of what was being said. That it was a translation of what was being said made it easier to identify words.
To begin with, we set the scene. The storm, the heath, the witches, the lone figure of Macbeth coming through the storm. We explored the rhythmic sounds, vibrations and signs related to storms, and created the storm, and then we created the heath in tableau form, with plants and animals. Stephen stopped us there at one point in the week to explain that the kids probably wouldn’t know the sign for heath, so we talked about what a heath consisted of and he encouraged us to create our own sign for the word, and said that would be a good idea to do with the kids. In audible languages, it is not quite possible to make up a word for something, or it is too simple for the teacher, or some other person, to identify, so words do not need to be made up. But, in BSL, signs can be made up for words and images. For our heath, we agreed on the fact that it was vast and flat, and the first scene in Macbeth describes it as very foggy, so our heath was an arm held up parallel to the floor, bent so it is in front of you, and the other floating over it like fog, moving from one end of the arm to the other.
When scribing, I fell into a rhythm. I basically wrote down everything I heard and who spoke it. It was fun, challenging, but very possible to keep up with the dialogue.
Having BSL in the room, and someone signing the translation of the dialogue around us was fascinating. I was able to identify the different words, as some popped up more than others, and I was able see some similarities between BSL and ASL. When I wasn’t scribing, I was watching the translator’s hands move swiftly in front of them, showing the words being said. I really appreciated the opportunity to learn in a room with a new language, especially one that I could easily pick up, at least through my eyes.
Annika Nori Ahlgrim, MA Shakespeare and Creativity