Integrated immersive inclusiveness: trialling immersive technologies in the creation of inclusive and integrated theatre for deaf audiences

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The AHRC/ESPRC Next Generation of Immersive Experiences call highlights the centrality of immersion to audiences' experience of performance: 'Whether recorded or performed live, dance, theatre, film, television and video games and other performances rely on the audiences' immersion in the experience'. However, not all audiences are easily able to experience such immersion: this research project brings together Red Earth Theatre, a small-scale touring theatre company with an established track record and commitment to research in inclusive integrated communication for young audiences (with a focus on deaf audiences) and an interdisciplinary team of researchers across arts and computer sciences at the University of Nottingham to explore solutions for those audiences for whom, up until now, immersion in performance has been hindered by modes of accessibility that divide and distract attention. Red Earth's 'total communication' approach to making theatre aims to integrate modes of communication - including metaphor, symbol, costume, set, lighting, auditory, signed, oral, written - immersively within the theatrical aesthetics of the performance, but the work required to achieve this is expensive and demanding for small- and medium-scale theatre companies. Working together through a series of iterative workshops and events with key stakeholders from the deaf community, this project will explore the potential for the use of cheap or freely available immersive technologies to support further development of integrated inclusiveness for deaf audiences in small scale touring productions. It will develop prototype approaches that can be shared with other companies and venues as well as - potentially - signposting opportunities to develop similar approaches with other groups with different accessibility needs. The Arts Council's Creative Case for Diversity, published in 2011, states that 'the Arts Council wishes to encourage those we fund and partner to be responsible for creating the conditions on the ground for further equality in the arts. We believe this approach will lead to a greater diversity of artistic expression connecting with a wider audience for the work'. This project's focus on supporting and enabling immersive experiences for audiences who are often alienated by mainstream theatre will help Red Earth deliver on that ambition.