[ SHADOW INTERPRETING ]
[ THE PROCESS ]
[ THE BUSINESS ]
Sign language is “built for expression” in ways unthinkable in spoken language. Like other languages, one of the many ways in which signed languages are used is in artistic expression of thoughts, emotions and cultural information. But, while their aural counterparts use sound and vocal technique to evoke an image, signed languages capitalize on some of the unique features of visual languages:
- Time: The visual nature of sign languages let the signer express more than one concept simultaneously. Spoken languages are much more linear: Words are produced one after the other, in the order dictated by the language’s grammar.
- Space: Signed languages are spatial in nature – hand, arm, body and head movements are combined with a sophisticated set of facial movements to form sentences. The use of space allows for detailed renderings of items and events, including sizes, shapes, textures, and relative positioning of people and objects.
- Face: “Giving good face” in sign language is not about looks. Signed languages use a set of face, head, and upper body movements as grammatical markers. These movements – often misunderstood by onlookers as “mouthing the words” – are essential to the grammar of signed languages.
Deaf sign language artists throughout the world – poets, storytellers, playwrights, actors, comedians, and others who elevate their local sign language to an artistic form of expression – weave their uniquely Deaf experience into their work.
Examples of spoken languages taken to their zenith abound in literature, opera, the theatre, and poetry houses throughout the world. To imagine the same for signed language, imagine a film with no spoken dialogue. The dialogue is there, but it’s imbued into everything you see in the film. With no separation between the “what” and the “how it is expressed,” the language before you shifts its shape to reveal details one after the other – and sometimes all at once.
Deaf artists, poets, theatres, and others throughout the world have explored the artistic use of sign language on stage. Productions developed in sign language – or with sign language in mind – are unique to the Deaf experience in the way that musical theatre is unique to the hearing experience. Some Deaf literature makes accommodation for those who don’t know sign language by employing hearing actors or interpreters to “voice” dialogue that is signed.
Sign language interpreters on stage have one foot in both worlds. For the most part, they are working within a play, opera, musical or other work that was written by and traditionally conceived for a hearing audience. Their function includes (among other things) imparting the linguistic – or language-related – information of the work to the Deaf audience, using sign language.
Does it end there? Is the “function” of the interpreter accessibility or artistic in nature? It is a one-way street? Are the goals of the theatre, director, Deaf audience member, and interpreter the same?
TerpTheatre's experience is that yes – It is possible for hearing and Deaf ticket-holders to enjoy the same show at the same time.
[ WHY SHADOWING? ]