One of the problems with theatre is that it doesn’t always cater to deaf audiences, with actors often too far away to lip-read, and no subtitling. It was this problem that inspired You’re So Happy I Want To Die; a project devised by Tin Bath that developed a captioning system to be used in theatre productions. The project was commissioned by Theatre Sandbox in 2010 and resulted in a two-woman comedy show which incorporated the captioning system into the performance.

The system comprised of text-based captions and moving images which designed to enhance the theatre experience for deaf and hearing audiences alike. Triggered by changes in volume, pitch and tone, the captions were designed to highlight and enhance key dialogue and comic moments, intensify drama, and provide audiences with a visual representation of emotion. Pervasive media was used to develop the captions, which responded to the live nature of theatre in a dynamic and visually stimulating way.

Tin Bath is a theatre company formed by writer/producer Sophie Wooley and director Gemma Fairlie to produce interactive theatre that is accessible to deaf and hard of hearing people. The company explore new ways of incorporating subtitling into productions to make theatre fully accessible to the deaf community.

Sophie Wooley is a writer and actor who has starred in Channel 4’s Rose D’or and RTS award nominated Cast Off’s series. She has written a number of critically acclaimed plays including When To Run and Fight Face and is a regular contributor to BBC radio.

Gemma Farilie is an award-winning theatre director who has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company on a number of productions, including King Lear/The Seagull, For every Passion Something, and Julius Caesar Project. She has received to Time Out Critics Choice Awards and a Pearson award.

Related Links:
Theatre Sandbox
Tin Bath

Posted on Fri 11 March 2011.

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