Celebrating our 21st Birthday
After delaying our birthday celebrations due to the pandemic we were finally able to get together with some of the most important people in our history at the launch of the exhibition in November 2021.
Thanks to support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, we have created the world’s first ever archive and exhibition on open captioning.
“Captions Speak Louder” cements Stagetext’s place in the history books and guides you through the history of captioning using the stories and memories of caption users, our founders, and the staff and supporters who have worked with us over the last 21 years.
This is an ever-evolving project that will exist online and as a touring exhibition, which will continue to add pieces of history and new stories as the art of captioning continues to develop. Find out more details about the venues and tour dates at: ‘Captions Speak Louder’ Exhibition on Tour.
The exhibition has finished its current tour but please contact us if you would be interested in hosting.
Captions Speak Louder online Talks
Join us for the last of our free online events offering you an opportunity to learn about the history of theatre captions, as well as to share what access means to you. The talks include previously unseen videos from our archive, featuring those who benefit from captioning, the charity’s founders, the staff and its supporters, who have all worked to make the arts accessible to deaf, deafened and hard of hearing people. Find out more and register.
We’d like to thank The Barbican, who hosted the exhibition from its launch in November 2021, until early 2022. Stagetext’s archive, which inspired the exhibition, will live on at the University of Bristol Theatre Collection.
What did we do before captioning? We stayed at home
John Unsworth, Caption User
Stagetext’s History
In the words or our founders, staff, captioners, and users…
The Need for Captioning
Before captioning, visiting the theatre was a frustrating experience for deaf, deafened and hard of hearing people. They were unable to enjoy performances with their hearing friends.
In 2000, Peter Pullan, Merfyn Williams and Geoff Brown, who all had different types of deafness, formed a charity, Stagetext, and through consultation with deaf people, captioners, theatre directors and venues began to explore the best ways to make theatre accessible.
Our three founders in their own words….
Geoff Brown
Peter Pullan
Merfyn Williams
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Stagetext's Founders; Merfyn Williams, Peter Pullan, and Geoff Brown
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Stagetext's first captioned show was The Duchess of Malfi at The Barbican on 15 November 2000. Here we see the original ticket and programme for this show.
This letter from Peter Cadley, theatres manager, Royal Shakespeare Company, regarding co-operation with Stagetext. The letter is dated 19 July 2000 about 2 months after Stagetext was officially registered as a company and 4 months before the first captioned performance of the RSC’s ‘The Duchess of Malfi’ at the Barbican. - Image 3 of 4
This letter from Peter Cadley, theatres manager, Royal Shakespeare Company, regarding co-operation with Stagetext. The letter is dated 19 July 2000 about 2 months after Stagetext was officially registered as a company and 4 months before the first captioned performance of the RSC’s ‘The Duchess of Malfi’ at the Barbican.
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Letter from caption user regarding their attendance at a captioned performance at Theatre Royal, Bath, includes the quote “You have made many deafened people feel part of the human race again”.
I can go with my hearing friends and enjoy the magic and power of live theatre. I don’t feel disabled or excluded anymore.
Nell Baugh, Caption User
The Art of Captioning
From the beginning, Stagetext recognised the challenges of captioning live performance. Through consultation with deaf people, captioners, theatre directors and venues.
Our first captioners were Lynn Jackson and Roz Chalmers and today there are over 50 Stagetext-trained captioners working nationally.
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Image of Stagetext founders, captioners, staff and others in 2003 with one of our very early caption units.
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An early example of how our captioners worked and set up the equipment.
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Spreading the word... These are examples of some of our first leaflets we'd circulate to deaf groups to help build our audiences.
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Theatre Director, Peter Brook, wrote to our first captioner, Lynn Jackson, showing his admiration for Stagetext's work.
It gives me such pleasure to be a part of what‘s happening. I can now follow everything that’s happening on stage.
Vivienne Keightley, caption user
Changing The Arts Landscape
Stagetext wanted more people to have access to the arts and they knew they couldn’t do it alone. By working together with community groups, arts venues and other access organisations, they became part of a network for positive change.
As captioning became more widespread, audiences wanted access to different kinds of events. Stagetext began working with speech-to-text reporters to make talks in museums, discussions at art galleries, and conferences more accessible too.
In 2010, Stagetext introduced a digital subtitling and during the COVID-19 pandemic the demand for accessible content grew. Stagetext worked with arts organisations to subtitle hundreds of online events, and produced free online training for venues, so that more people could enjoy the arts from home.
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As theatre captioning became more widespread we were able to work with venues to better integrate our units in the sets.
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As our charity grew we began working with speech-to-text-reporters to offer live subtitled events at museums and galleries.
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In 2010 we launched our digital subtitling department, allowing us to subtitle pre-recorded shows and events. This department was instrumental during the Covid-19 pandemic as the demand for accessible online content grew.
You have made many deafened people feel like part of the human race again.
Early caption user
