Working Parts

Dudley Deaf Club are promoting Comedian John Smith with the help of Black Country Touring. Eighty Five tickets are sold, so the evening promises to have a great atmosphere. Its on Tuesday 9 th November 2010, doors open at 7 for an 8 o’clock start. Tickets are £5 in advance and £7 on the door. It’s at Queens Cross Centre, Wellington Road, Dudley. For further info about date click here. Have a look at John smiths new sketches on You tube Or watch a video about the deaf comedian John Smith on his act and what inspired him to take up stand-up comedy. John Smith’s Visual Comedy on the Guardian’s website.

In Walsall, “Play on Signs Theatre” is a drama group for deaf and hearing adults aged 18 and over. they are looking for new members. They create their own plays for performances, taught by deaf and hearing drama leaders, commmunication support is provided so everyone can access this group regardless of sign language ability. Read the rest of this entry →

http://www.vimeo.com/15385036
The Deafintely theatre workshops have identified Deaf people in the Black Country who are interested in the Arts. Working Parts hope to offer support, to increase opportunities and realise ambitions. We met Bob who use to part of 3D in Derby and now lives in Stourbridge, He wrote a play called “Harry from Dollywood” Dollywood is a Deaf Hollywood, it’s a play I wish I could of seen, with lots of visual jokes it must of been hilarious. He is also an actor.

Andrew Muir says “I want a write a play that is fresh and original and one that tackles deafness in a non patronising, theatrical way as oppose to a running commentary. I want to research thoroughly the area in and around Birmingham and listen to the stories of the people that I meet. Is there any one particular story or event that you know about/have heard about/were involved with that you would like to see onstage?”

Andrew Muir says “I want a write a play that is fresh and original and one that tackles deafness in a non patronising, theatrical way as oppose to a running commentary. I want to research thoroughly the area in and around Birmingham and listen to the stories of the people that I meet. Is there any one particular story or event that you know about/have heard about/were involved with that you would like to see onstage?”
Here are the questions he posed…
1. Who was you first kiss with? Can you remember that moment?
2. Life as a teenager – describe what that was like for you. Were you going out dancing, courting, drinking, smoking, what was going on in your life as a teenager? Were you in a gang? What fashion did you follow?
3. What did you want to be when you were growing up? A famous star, sportsman, astronaut – anything you can think of.
4. Has there been a moment in your life that had you not been deaf the outcome may well have been different?

http://www.vimeo.com/14464363
Our recent residency in Birmingham culminated in two test performances in front of audiences made up of deaf and hearing people.
Their feedback really helped reinforce my beliefs about what artistic captions should be like. More on that later, but first a bit of background on the build up to the tests.
It was crucial to get deaf people’s feedback about our captioning experiment. Much of our efforts in the first week were about going out into Birmingham’s deaf community, introducing ourselves and marketing the test shows.  We also asked people to fill in questionnaires, the results of which we will publish soon.
But we couldn’t just march into deaf clubs and hand out questionnaires, (as a deaf person myself I know how annoying it can be to be ‘researched’) we had to make friends and offer something in return. And so we gave talks, ran drama workshops, and hung out in deaf clubs chatting to people. The legwork paid off and we even had deaf people traveling from Wolverhampton to see the tests. Big up to Brummies Ruth, OJ, and Alison who very generously helped to spread the word about our test shows. Read the rest of this entry →

Have a look at the video asking people what they thought about the workshops. Deafinately theatre are working with Black Country Touring and Deaf Cultural Centre to create a new play. To expose Deaf and hard of hearing people to this artistic process they are running a series of workshops with community groups in the Black Country and Birmingham. The purpose of the workshops is for Deafinitely’s writer to gather a wide range of opinions from community groups, including young people, about a given subject, such as deafness in the past and future. It is not our intention that the community groups “write” a play, but their reactions to, and discussions about the given topic will provide a broader background of material from which the writer and director draw when creating the script. The groups participating will have had an influence upon the creative process of Deafinitely Theatre Company and because of their participation in this process, we hope a greater interest in the show that is finally produced.

Black Country Touring coordinator Alan McLean and arts officer Alison Breadon from the deaf cultural centre in Birmingham visited Dudley deaf club to experience the bingo night. They were invited by the committee of the deaf club to get an idea of the number of people who visit the club for the bingo. Over 75 people attended, we were told more came at Easter. We also met the secretary of the club, who could see the potential of this audience. Jeff was keen on promoting events at the deaf club and creating some great night outs for people who use deaf club, but also people in Dudley as well. Black Country Touring hope to help the club by assisting the Secretary. Jeff was thinking of starting with a Deaf comedian or Barbara Nice bringing her participatory comedy to the club and working closely with a BSL signer. If you go to a deaf club and are interested in getting support to put on events and shows get in touch with Black Country Touring.

A sign song workshop in Walsall with DAD to celebrate the performance of Graeae’s “Signs of a Star Shaped Diva” at the Birmingham Rep Theatre with the excellent Caroline Parker who plays Sue Graves, Sue is an undertaker, running the family ­business started by her great gran, Mabel, who turned to the dead when her heart was broken. Quiet, single and heading reasonably contentedly towards middle age, Sue finds romance when she meets Lawrence Stone. It is love at first sight for the couple whose conjoined names are “the Grave-Stones”. But Sue, who is deaf, has a secret. By night, the unassuming Sue becomes the ­glamorous Tammy Frascati, who performs the hits of our greatest divas using British Sign Language in a local night club where she has become a cult hit. (from Guardian) Jayne Fletcher and Angela Twigg successfully brought the fun, mischief and quandaries about the use of BSL in “signs of a star shaped diva” to DAD which I think stands for deaf adult drama, who are a group which meets every Thursday at Walsall deaf people’s centre. I participated in a sign song workshop which began by learning the verses in British sign language (BSL) of Snow patrol’s “Open your eyes” Jayne and Angela made everyone warmly welcome, it was great fun learning the signs and finding out to different signs for “cuts” and which ones, were more dramatic, and fitted Snow patrol’s melancholy intention. Read the rest of this entry →

The Deaf Cultural Centre are working with Black Country Touring to commission the artistic director of ‘Deafinitely Theatre’ and a writer to involve the Disability groups and the Deaf community and in script development for a new BSL led play.
To find out more contact Alison Breadon Arts Officer at Deaf Cultural centre Minicom: 0121 246 6101 Tel 0121 450 7775 / 0121 246 6100 alisonbreadon@DeafCulturalCentre.com