Captioner Kathryn McAuley recently joined Dino on BBC Radio Nottingham to discuss the vital work involved in bringing theatre to deaf, deafened and hard of hearing audiences, including her recent captioning of War Horse at Nottingham Royal Concert Hall.
Kathryn explained how the specialist screens on either side of the stage work, showing dialogue in real-time so deaf, deafened and hard of hearing audiences get the full experience. The timing has to be perfect: too early and you spoil the punchline, too late and people miss the joke entirely.
Behind the scenes, there’s hours of preparation. Kathryn formats scripts and adds every sound cue, from Joey’s whinnying in War Horse to musical moments, making sure Deaf audiences are included in every moment.
The conversation highlighted why accessibility matters. As Kathryn put it: “I’ve loved theatre since I was a child and it has to be accessible to everyone… It should be equal for everyone.” Her passion shines through her commitment to training with Stagetext, captioning work evenings and weekends, alongside her day job at Nottingham Playhouse.
Full transcript of the interview can be found here.
You can listen to the full interview on BBC Radio Nottingham starting from 1.20.20.
