We first worked with Hear Art a couple of years ago on the launch of Shaping Tomorrow, its Deaf-led video podcast created with a 90% Deaf production team, so we were over the moon to be asked to link up with the organisation again on its first piece of theatre.
We joined Hear Art as it prepared to open its new production of Nick Payne’s award-winning play Constellations at Merton Arts Space in Wimbledon, giving us a short window to bring everything together and get it in front of the right people.
The show had been developed in British Sign Language and spoken English, making Deaf culture part of the play itself. BSL wasn’t added to something that had already been created in spoken English as an access measure. It ran through the performances and creative decisions, bringing another layer to a play that explores countless versions of the same relationship across parallel worlds.
It also marked the first commissioned directing role for Charlotte Arrowsmith, a pioneering Deaf actor and theatre-maker whose credits include the Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare’s Globe and This Is Going to Hurt. Deaf actor Stephen Collins, known for Dune: Part One, Sliced and Reunion, starred alongside Kitty Devlin from Bridgerton, who is hard of hearing and also works as a Communication Support Worker. With Charlotte directing and Stephen and Kitty in the lead roles, Deaf and hard of hearing creatives led the production on stage and behind the scenes.
Our job was to make all of that clear without allowing the artistic value of the work to be reduced to a conversation about access. This was a well-known and widely performed play being approached from a Deaf creative perspective, finding something new in the material and supporting Hear Art’s wider mission to create paid opportunities for Deaf people across theatre, film and live events.
Coverage included features with BATOD, London x London, The Limping Chicken, In Your Area and BroadwayWorld, taking the story into theatre, London and Deaf media.
A real highlight was arranging an interview for Charlotte and Stephen on BBC Radio London’s Upload show. Supported by BSL interpreters, they spoke about the production, their experiences as Deaf creatives and why Deaf artists need to be trusted to lead work like this.
Making that happen was so important because Deaf creatives are still rarely included in radio interviews. It meant Charlotte and Stephen could speak for themselves and take the work directly to BBC Radio London’s audience.
Two reviews followed the run, with All That Dazzles awarding it four stars and praising Charlotte’s direction, the use of BSL and the performances from Stephen and Kitty, while The Limping Chicken explored it from a Deaf perspective, applauding the cast’s “phenomenal performances” and recognising the space it gave Charlotte to explore language, communication and relationships.
Across a very short campaign, the publicity generated eight pieces of targeted coverage with a combined potential reach of more than 3.2 million. The breadth of that coverage was just as valuable, reaching theatre audiences, the wider cultural sector and the Deaf community, while giving the people behind it the chance to talk about the work in their own words.
Big love to our friends at Hear Art. We’re huge fans of what they do and will always be in their corner.
Sundae x
