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Cookies must be enabled | The Australian
LIKE his deaf character Billy in the Melbourne Theatre Company production of Tribes, actor Luke Watts learned to sign later in life.
"I started learning Auslan (Australian sign language) around the age of 15," said Watts, now 20. "It now almost feels as if Auslan could have been my first language."
When the Sydney-based actor steps on stage in Tribes this week, he will become the first member of the deaf community to play a leading role for MTC, according to the company's general manager, Ann Tonks.
Watts, who has severe to profound hearing loss, said theatre companies needed to make their productions more accessible to the deaf. "It is sometimes frustrating to attend non-captioned or Auslan-interpreted theatre and not be able to enjoy all it has to offer," Watts said.
Captioning converts audio -- including dialogue, music and sound effects -- to text that is displayed during the performance. Tribes, by British playwright Nina Raine, features some sign language. Its relevance to the deaf community prompted MTC to schedule a second captioned performance of the play.
"From a purely cynical point of view, they're probably leading the charge in that the majority of theatre production companies are still not thinking about captioning at all," said Kate Larsen, the chief executive of Arts Access Australia.
"Captioning has grown quite a lot in the last two years actually, but it's still quite a big gap."
Larsen would like to see theatre companies offer at least one captioned performance for every production.
"Tribes is a case where it is of particular interest to the deaf community, but people with a disability don't just want to see their own experience reflected," she said.
MTC is offering at least one captioned performance for eight of its 12 main season plays this year. Tonks said captioning was part of the company's overall access program. "Captioning is reasonably expensive. If we can build up to 12 plays, we certainly will," she said. Each captioned performance costs about $3000.
Live Performance Australia, of which Tonks was executive vice-president until last month, has advocated for a modest federal captioning fund of $200,000 in its response to the National Cultural Policy discussion paper.
"I think a lot of theatre companies would like to do it but the issue is it does cost and someone has to bear the cost," said LPA policy adviser Zac Gillam.
Melbourne's Malthouse Theatre is not offering any captioned performances this year, but it will provide live Auslan interpretations for one performance each of The Wild Duck and Blood Wedding.
LIKE his deaf character Billy in the Melbourne Theatre Company production of Tribes, actor Luke Watts learned to sign later in life.
"I started learning Auslan (Australian sign language) around the age of 15," said Watts, now 20. "It now almost feels as if Auslan could have been my first language."
When the Sydney-based actor steps on stage in Tribes this week, he will become the first member of the deaf community to play a leading role for MTC, according to the company's general manager, Ann Tonks.
Watts, who has severe to profound hearing loss, said theatre companies needed to make their productions more accessible to the deaf. "It is sometimes frustrating to attend non-captioned or Auslan-interpreted theatre and not be able to enjoy all it has to offer," Watts said.
Captioning converts audio -- including dialogue, music and sound effects -- to text that is displayed during the performance. Tribes, by British playwright Nina Raine, features some sign language. Its relevance to the deaf community prompted MTC to schedule a second captioned performance of the play.
"From a purely cynical point of view, they're probably leading the charge in that the majority of theatre production companies are still not thinking about captioning at all," said Kate Larsen, the chief executive of Arts Access Australia.
"Captioning has grown quite a lot in the last two years actually, but it's still quite a big gap."
Larsen would like to see theatre companies offer at least one captioned performance for every production.
"Tribes is a case where it is of particular interest to the deaf community, but people with a disability don't just want to see their own experience reflected," she said.
MTC is offering at least one captioned performance for eight of its 12 main season plays this year. Tonks said captioning was part of the company's overall access program. "Captioning is reasonably expensive. If we can build up to 12 plays, we certainly will," she said. Each captioned performance costs about $3000.
Live Performance Australia, of which Tonks was executive vice-president until last month, has advocated for a modest federal captioning fund of $200,000 in its response to the National Cultural Policy discussion paper.
"I think a lot of theatre companies would like to do it but the issue is it does cost and someone has to bear the cost," said LPA policy adviser Zac Gillam.
Melbourne's Malthouse Theatre is not offering any captioned performances this year, but it will provide live Auslan interpretations for one performance each of The Wild Duck and Blood Wedding.