Deafinitely Theatre today announce Deafinitely Digital with a selection of their critically acclaimed past productions available online to watch for free between April and June in a mission to bring theatre to people at a time when accessing live performance is not possible.
In April, Shakespeare’s Love’s Labour’s Lost (2012); in May, George Brant’s Grounded (2015); and in June, Mike Bartlett’s Contractions (2017) which marked the company’s 15th anniversary and won the company an Off West End Award for Best Production; will be made available to watch for free at www.youtube.com/user/markdeafinitely. All productions are performed in British Sign Language and Spoken English.
Artistic Director of Deafinitely Theatre, Paula Garfield today said, “We are in precarious times – probably the most difficult and unusual of this century, and many people are struggling. It is therefore important that we find a way to survive and connect beyond physical contact and culture remains a vital way for us to come together, even when we can’t congregate in theatres or galleries. Deafinitely Theatre is thrilled to make digitally available three of our recent plays to give audiences a chance to see, or revisit, these acclaimed bilingual productions. Each will be available for free for one month on Deafinitely’s YouTube channel.”
Presented at Shakespeare’s Globe for the World Shakespeare Festival in May 2012, Deafinitely Theatre and Shakespeare’s Globe’s production of Love’s Labour’s Lost then toured the UK as part of the Globe to Globe Festival, in which each of Shakespeare’s 37 plays were shown in a different language. By translating the rich, pun-riddled text of Love’s Labour’s Lost into the physical language of BSL, Deafinitely Theatre created a new interpretation of Shakespeare’s comedy, accessible to theatregoers of all backgrounds. This is the first time this has been attempted with a full Shakespeare play.
Grounded was filmed at Park Theatre. An unexpected pregnancy ends a fighter pilot’s career in the sky. Reassigned to operate military drones from a windowless trailer outside Las Vegas, she hunts terrorists by day and returns for her family each night. As the pressure to track a high-profile target mounts, the boundaries begin to blur between the desert in which she lives and the one she patrols half a world away.
Deafinitely Theatre’s Contractions, was the first professional revival of the play in London since its debut at the Royal Court Theatre in 2008. Are your employers concerned about your welfare? Do they have a duty of care? Emma thinks so, but when she begins a relationship with colleague Darren her Manager suggests she might be in breach of contract. A series of bizarre meetings follow, during which the consequences of Emma’s actions take on a disturbing quality… A dark comedy about faceless corporations, nameless management and the boundaries between work and play.
