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Funding boost to help establish Scotland’s first Deaf Youth Theatre | 24dash.com - Health
Glasgow-based, theatre company ‘Solar Bear LIMITED’ has just a major boost to the tune of £106,799 from the Big Lottery Fund to establish Scotland’s first Deaf Youth Theatre.
Founded in February 2002, by Artistic Directors Deborah Andrews and Gerry Ramage, the company has gone from strength to strength.
Having set out to create exciting, innovative theatre with a strong social commitment, they have successfully delivered a wide range of education and training programmes on a national scale, as well as hosting in-house apprenticeships.
At the same time they have managed to produce pioneering, award-winning, main-stage productions such as Seeing Voices, which received critical acclaim from both Deaf and hearing audiences in 2004.
Sticking to their original values of inclusion, integration and access, while producing innovative work, Solar Bear - the adult arm of the company - translated Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream into British Sign Language (BSL), and performed extracts of the play at The Citizens’ Theatre last year.
Solar Bear UNITED - the young people’s wing - is also the only theatre company of its type in Scotland.
It is a professional theatre company that works specifically for and with young people, creating workshops and plays that relate to young people’s experiences and interests.
Solar Bear UNITED is currently getting ready to go into rehearsal for Broken, a new physical theatre piece, which will be performed at Tramway in Glasgow from Wednesday 6 - Saturday 9 June at 7.30 pm with a Matinee performance on Friday 8 June at 1pm (£3/£6).
Broken, originally created by Founder and Artistic Director of Solar Bear, Deborah Andrews, and since developed and adapted by Solar Bear UNITED and Ronnie Simon, was inspired by issues pertinent to young people that both Deborah and Artistic Director of Solar Bear UNITED, Gerry Ramage, have seen come up time and time again while delivering workshops across Scotland.
Broken centres on the lives of a group of young people who regularly visit a local park. Secrets kept buried for years are unearthed, with tragic consequences. Based around four main characters, we watch as they deal with emotionally brutal topics handled with a gentle dignity and respect.
“Broken examines how we communicate...and how we don't,” said Director, Gerry Ramage. Audience members who saw the pilot of Broken in 2005 were very impressed with how the BSL gave the words a really physical feel.”
“As with our previous success with Seeing Voices, we were overwhelmed by the enthusiastic response the audience had to the new aesthetic we’ve been developing. We were very excited with the suggestion that technically we were creating a new form of theatre. In Seeing Voices two actors portrayed the same character, one signed (BSL) as the other spoke.
"We’ve since investigated a variety of ways that signing and spoken English can coexist on stage to create a more inclusive form of theatre. That’s what we set out to do – create really innovative theatre that is accessible to everyone, and part of our plan was to increase access by establishing the first Deaf Youth Theatre in Scotland.”
Glasgow-based, theatre company ‘Solar Bear LIMITED’ has just a major boost to the tune of £106,799 from the Big Lottery Fund to establish Scotland’s first Deaf Youth Theatre.
Founded in February 2002, by Artistic Directors Deborah Andrews and Gerry Ramage, the company has gone from strength to strength.
Having set out to create exciting, innovative theatre with a strong social commitment, they have successfully delivered a wide range of education and training programmes on a national scale, as well as hosting in-house apprenticeships.
At the same time they have managed to produce pioneering, award-winning, main-stage productions such as Seeing Voices, which received critical acclaim from both Deaf and hearing audiences in 2004.
Sticking to their original values of inclusion, integration and access, while producing innovative work, Solar Bear - the adult arm of the company - translated Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream into British Sign Language (BSL), and performed extracts of the play at The Citizens’ Theatre last year.
Solar Bear UNITED - the young people’s wing - is also the only theatre company of its type in Scotland.
It is a professional theatre company that works specifically for and with young people, creating workshops and plays that relate to young people’s experiences and interests.
Solar Bear UNITED is currently getting ready to go into rehearsal for Broken, a new physical theatre piece, which will be performed at Tramway in Glasgow from Wednesday 6 - Saturday 9 June at 7.30 pm with a Matinee performance on Friday 8 June at 1pm (£3/£6).
Broken, originally created by Founder and Artistic Director of Solar Bear, Deborah Andrews, and since developed and adapted by Solar Bear UNITED and Ronnie Simon, was inspired by issues pertinent to young people that both Deborah and Artistic Director of Solar Bear UNITED, Gerry Ramage, have seen come up time and time again while delivering workshops across Scotland.
Broken centres on the lives of a group of young people who regularly visit a local park. Secrets kept buried for years are unearthed, with tragic consequences. Based around four main characters, we watch as they deal with emotionally brutal topics handled with a gentle dignity and respect.
“Broken examines how we communicate...and how we don't,” said Director, Gerry Ramage. Audience members who saw the pilot of Broken in 2005 were very impressed with how the BSL gave the words a really physical feel.”
“As with our previous success with Seeing Voices, we were overwhelmed by the enthusiastic response the audience had to the new aesthetic we’ve been developing. We were very excited with the suggestion that technically we were creating a new form of theatre. In Seeing Voices two actors portrayed the same character, one signed (BSL) as the other spoke.
"We’ve since investigated a variety of ways that signing and spoken English can coexist on stage to create a more inclusive form of theatre. That’s what we set out to do – create really innovative theatre that is accessible to everyone, and part of our plan was to increase access by establishing the first Deaf Youth Theatre in Scotland.”