Mother Goose will be The Gaiety’s first in-house production to feature actors performing in BSL, Sign Supported English and spoken English throughout, and Scotland’s first hearing-led pantomime to involve two D/deaf actors. Bea Webster and Benedetta Zanetti will deliver performances featuring a combination of BSL, Sign Supported English, and Visual Vernacular, while other cast members perform in spoken English.
The production is supported by Solar Bear – one of Scotland’s foremost inclusive theatre companies. Solar Bear works collaboratively with both deaf and hearing actors, theatre makers, artists, and young people, promoting inclusion, and reaching out to those often excluded from the arts. Solar Bear strives to celebrate and advocate for deaf artists, deaf stories, deaf culture, and BSL.
Following two years of 5-star reviewed productions (Sleeping Beauty – 2022 and Cinderella – 2023), writing team Ken Alexander and Fraser Boyle return to The Gaiety to put their original spin on a beloved family favourite for this year’s panto: Mother Goose.
Bea Webster (they/them) will take on the role of Angel. A Glasgow-based Scottish/Thai Deaf queer actor, writer and theatre maker, Bea graduated with BA Performance (for Deaf and HoH Actors) from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in 2018, and is an alumni of Solar Bear’s Deaf Youth Theatre. Their recent acting include Dungeons, Dragons & The Quest for D*** (A Play, A Pie and A Pint), Medea (National Theatre of Scotland), The Winter’s Tale (Royal Shakespeare Company), and Galatea (Brighton Festival). They were nominated for Best Actor in the 2019 Stage Debut Awards for their performance in Mother Courage and Her Children.
Benedetta Zanetti (she/her) will play Margherita. Actor, director and writer Benedetta is a recent graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with BA Performance (for Deaf and HoH Actors) and MA Classical and Contemporary Text/Acting. Her recent credits include Funnybones (SFTW), Dreams & Nightmares R&D (Imaginate), Zoe’s Peculiar Journey Through Time (Theatre-Rites) and Creatures (Imaginate/Pappyshow).
Alongside Bea and Benedetta, Mother Goose will feature Fraser Boyle in the titular role as pantomime’s most famous dame, and a stellar cast of Scottish performers including returning favourites Gavin Jon Wright, Chiara Sparkes, Dani Heron, and Rachel Campbell; and newcomers to The Gaiety Jamie McKillop, Gregor John Owen, Ciara Flynn, and Lewis Kerr.
Vince Hope, The Gaiety Artistic Director said: ‘The Gaiety is delighted to be fulfilling our ambition to have two deaf performers in Mother Goose, and we want this to be a genuinely positive experience for the actors and audiences. Last year we made a commitment to spend time researching, understanding, and planning for specific requirements that deaf performers might need for working in the panto environment. Having had this focus, working closely with Solar Bear and the actors themselves, with input and support from BSL consultants and translators, this feels like creatively we’ve taken yet another big leap forward with our panto. We’ve received such warm support and encouragement from those in the industry – comments such as “It’s an exciting move for Scottish theatre to finally put a deaf person on stage as a character in a mainstage panto!” and “great news for the Deaf acting community in Scotland”.’
Jennifer Bates, Solar Bear Creative Director/CEO said: ‘Supporting Ayr Gaiety’s panto, Mother Goose, is something that I am so very proud of. For such a long time, there has been a notable absence of deaf actors on our main stages at Christmas. Now, there is not one deaf actor employed but two, and I know that both Bea and Benny will be brilliant – I’ve had a sneak peek during the read-through! Solar Bear have been working with the team at Ayr as they relish the creative challenge of working in a bilingual room: playing with the richness and complexity that can be explored when working with BSL and visual communication. All the while making sure best practice, equality, access, and inclusivity is at the heart of the process. We cannot wait to see the final production this winter – my tickets are booked!’
Mother Goose will run at The Gaiety from Friday 22 November 2024 – Saturday 4 January 2025.
