FTHK makes theatre without boundaries

Jayne Batzofin in What Goes UP.

Jayne Batzofin in What Goes UP.

Published May 19, 2015

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IT IS not everyday that you have arts establishments commemorating a decade in a competitive and financially straining industry.

The Fleur du Cap award-winning visual theatre company, FTHK, not only celebrates this achievement this year, but they also tour a new production to institutions for the hearing impaired. What Goes UP is a production aimed at deaf children aged four to 7seven years old and marks a new venture for the company, targeting young learners in a show specifically created for these children.

Through the use of captivating costumes and enchanting puppets, the production aims to offer children the opportunity to connect with their emotions of how they experience their world.

The show is performed by actor and director Jayne Batzofin and Iman Isaacs, who was seen in the film City of Violence with Orlando Bloom. In an interview with Tonight, Ana Lemmer, chief executive of FTHK, said when their initiative started 10 years ago, the main objective was to incorporate the deaf into the theatre world of South Africa, “both as performers and as audience members and to also raise awareness around the integration of disability (or different ability) in the arts.

“FTHK also wanted to develop the genre of non-verbal and visual theatre, unearthing the myriad possibilities of expression that lies in this. Lastly, we wanted to enable both deaf and hearing to occupy the same cultural space, which is of great importance when one considers social cohesion.”

Describing the reaction from learners, teachers and parents to their shows, Batzofin said they have been nothing short of over-whelming: “From learners and teachers, from huge laughs to deep empathy and absolute awe. The biggest reaction is that they feel exceedingly appreciative that the show is performed in sign language for the children.

“Deaf children don’t get enough (if any) productions in their mother tongue language. So for them to have a show that uses sign language, they feel connected to the performers and the story, because they can relate to it.

“Using sign language develops the deaf learners’ understanding and use of the language, it also gives them a new avenue of learning sign language outside of their regular classroom setting.

“The value of exposing children to the arts is a topic much-discussed, researched and also largely underestimated. In taking non-verbal theatre experience to learners, they get to experience live entertainment in ways which require different understanding and sensory awareness, not to mention that for many children this is sometimes the first time they get to experience this ever.

“It instils a sense of wonder, develops visual literacy and in particular for the deaf child, it teaches ways of self-expression so crucial to their personal development.”

She said what has made FTHK survive over the past 10 years is to stay critical of its impact, relevance and the environment it operates in.

“FTHK has asked the hard questions and also not been afraid to leap and push the boundaries of its operation. In the past two years, FTHK have also came to understand that while a deaf audience appreciates the non-verbal theatre product, they would also like to participate in a larger cultural sphere in also going to bigger commercial theatre in musical products like War Horse or Cabaret.

“These works then need to be interpreted in South African Sign Language – however, interpreting for theatre is again a specific art form which led to FTHK also launching its Interpreting for Theatre Project last year. As to its future, FTHK and its main collaborators never focus too far ahead as the survival of an arts organisation today needs to take a lot of variables into account.”

Batzofin said she would love to see the show travel to many more deaf schools all over South Africa and Africa.

“It would be great for it to have international recognition at well-established deaf festivals overseas, as those festivals don’t receive much work for very young children. I would also like to create more new works for young deaf learners to continue inspiring their creativity, expanding their imagination and expressing themselves in sign language.”

Here’s a glance at where FTHK heads to next:

• Until Wednesday – Fulton School for the Deaf, Gillits, Durban

• Thursday – VN Naik School for the Deaf, Indana Road, Durban

• Friday – St Martin de Porres School for the Deaf, Port Shepstone

• Saturday – St Thomas’ Home for Children, Sydenham, Durban

• Monday to May 27 – Kwa Vulindlebe School for the Deaf.

Did you know...

• FTHK is a ground-breaking theatre company that works in the field of visual theatre. Without a dependency on any one language, its work crosses cultural and linguistic divides and calls on audiences to “listen with your eyes”.

• It has won multiple awards, including the 2011 Fleur du Cap award for Innovation in Theatre, and the company have toured all over South Africa, Germany, Argentina and in the US, reaching more than 70 000 people in nine years.

• More than that, their non-verbal, visual theatre integrates deaf and hearing artists, audiences and educators, and the company has won multiple awards for this work. Their aim of bringing together the deaf and hearing is best illustrated through their unique Tell-Tale Signs programme which has trained, inspired and fascinated deaf and hearing communities around the world since the company’s inception.

• FTHK productions include OfficeBLOCK, its award-winning performances of Pictures of You and Benchmarks (in association with A Conspiracy of Clowns), Gumbo, and its multi-award-nominated Quack! and Womb Tide.

• What Goes UP is performed in SASL (South African Sign Language). They have a version to accommodate hearing children, but the show was created for deaf children to help promote and engage the learners in their mother tongue language.

• The shows on this tour are going specifically to deaf schools and institutional community organisations. They are hoping at a later date to open up the production to the public, as well as do a similar tour in Gauteng.

• FTHK does non-verbal theatre but also does projects where they enable deaf access such as Interpreting for Theatre Projects etc. Schools and organisations are welcome to contact them to book shows or to see what FTHK can offer them. Contact [email protected]. – source: FTHK

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