Key points
- More theatre performances are attempting to welcome Deaf audiences through the use of Auslan.
- Auslan is a form of visual communication used by over 16,000 people nationwide.
- The entertainment industry still has a long way to go to increase inclusion, insiders say.
When the cast of Moulin Rouge! The Musical finished belting out their act one show-stopper during a recent Sydney performance, a group of viewers closest to the stage didn't clap.
Instead, the audience members stretched up their arms and waved open palms at the actors in a show of Auslan applause.
The October performance was one of an increasing number of examples of the arts sector attempting to welcome Deaf audiences through the use of Auslan.
"Ten to 15 years ago, Deaf people had to seek out the production company and organise and pay for their own interpreters, but now that's changed," interpreter Brendan McQuiggin tells AAP.
Auslan, or Australian Sign Language, is a form of visual communication used by over 16,000 members of the Deaf community nationwide.
While it routinely features at leaders' COVID-19 press conferences or natural disaster briefings, many people are less familiar with its use in non-emergency situations.
During the Auslan-interpreted performance of Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Mr McQuiggin and colleague Rosemary Profilio translated multiple characters at once, switching personalities from the sleazy duke to the boyish protagonist.
They moved from complementary to synchronised signs as singers shifted between melodies and harmonies.
Moulin Rouge! The Musical associate director Ed Wightman says the pair maintained an extraordinary synergy with the stage performers, managing to "physically embody the musical".
During the Auslan-interpreted performance of Moulin Rouge! The Musical, interpreters translated multiple characters at once, Source: AAP / Thomas Banneyer/DPA
Theatre enthusiast Kim Curtas, who is Deaf, made the 400km journey from her home in Tamworth to Sydney's Capitol Theatre to watch the interpreted show.
"Because of COVID, there's been no shows and no theatre for four years. So when I saw Moulin Rouge [The Musical] was on, I knew we had to fly in and see it," she tells AAP.
Although she could have watched the show without interpreters, Ms Curtas says Auslan elevated the experience for her and the 80 other Deaf audience members.
"If we go to the theatre, we can hear the actors sing by feeling the vibrations and get the gist of the story," she says.
"But if we watch without the interpreters, we don't know what's happening and we can't get that connection. There's a story in the song, so it's mind-blowing to come and see."
In the months leading up to the performance, the interpreters pored over the script and audio, adjusting their signing during the rehearsal process in consultation with colleagues from Auslan Stage Left, which provides interpreting for the arts sector to enable access for the Deaf community.
"It's about equivalence. We need to make sure that whatever we're producing matches whatever's happening on stage," Mr McQuiggin says.
"We're not an additional performance to the performance, we're just language experts who are delivering language to an audience that otherwise cannot have access to something they're passionate about."
Two separate languages
Auslan often can't be translated directly into English: its word order is less fixed than the spoken language and physical expressions like furrowed or raised eyebrows are integral to the meaning of a sentence.
"A lot of the hearing audience expect that there's a word in the sign that matches and there's not, they're two separate languages," Ms Profilio says.
An alternative accessibility option for the Deaf population is closed captions, but Auslan Stage Left Deaf consultant Dion Galea says sign language is more dynamic and helps the audience form a stronger bond with the art.
"Auslan, our language, is where we can equally identify the meaning, the tone, the context going around, instead of following the English grammar," he says.
The performing arts sector has made strides in facilitating inclusion.
Other major productions like Melbourne's Hairspray, Sydney's Hamilton and Perth's Frozen have all held shows featuring sign language.
But most have only one or two interpreted performances per season, leaving the community wanting more.
"Deaf people who use Auslan are very visual, of course, and they love the experience of a live event," Auslan Stage Left's Melissa Smith says.
Sometimes, costs can be a major barrier, particularly for smaller productions that run on razor-thin margins.
On other occasions, venues don't consider Auslan access until someone asks.
Even if an entertainment company retroactively adds interpreters, often there are few tickets left for Auslan users by the time it is advertised.
"The entertainment industry still has some work to do and access should be carefully considered in the early stages of production, not as an afterthought," Ms Smith says.
Internationally, theatres have taken a more integrated approach to signed performances.
In 2015, Deaf West put on a Broadway revival of Spring Awakening that featured Deaf leads shadowed by hearing actors who sang and spoke for them.
For its 2018 interpretation of Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame, 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle featured a Deaf actor playing Quasimodo in American Sign Language.
By weaving sign language into the fabric of both musicals, the companies overcame problems associated with traditional interpreting services.
Deaf viewers didn't have to look back and forth between interpreters and the stage, and they could sit in any part of the auditorium, not just the area from which the sign language was visible.
But no large-scale Australian musical has yet to feature shadowing or Deaf actors in the same way.
"We would love to see Deaf people cast in various roles and performances of all types, not just as the token Deaf person but as a true character," Ms Smith says.
Meanwhile, Moulin Rouge! The Musical will work with Auslan Stage Left on future shows in Brisbane and Perth.
The production company is also planning an audio-described performance for visually-impaired audiences.
"The world and the arts are for everyone and it's really important to take any steps we can to live by this," Wightman says.
