Feature: Playing God - Using theatre to explore the right to be deaf
17 February 2009. By Penny Bailey
The play set out to create a bridge between the deaf and hearing worlds by being accessible to both audiences. A challenge was to find creative ways for both types of audience to understand what was happening.
Voiceovers and shadow-signing were used when an actor was respectively signing or speaking. It was also possible to convey what one actor said by the response of another. For example, "My daughter is well, thank you," clearly conveys the question that was asked.
The implant controversy
The story goes as follows: married parents Emma and John are both deaf and have a deaf daughter named Ruby, aged four-and-a-half. They use British Sign Language to communicate with their daughter, but an audiologist advises that Ruby should have a cochlear implant before the age of five, if it is to have any positive effect on her hearing.
The use of cochlear implants is controversial. These electronic devices are implanted into a child's head before the age of five, and are accompanied by external components worn on the head like a hearing aid, to bypass the damaged hair cells in the inner ear and stimulate the hearing nerve directly.
Although they make it possible for profoundly deaf people to hear some sounds, they don't enable them to hear speech or music fully or appreciate the full range of sounds and meanings available to hearing people.
Parents of children who have had cochlear implants are encouraged not to 'sign' to their children, in order to persuade them to listen and talk. This leaves deaf children with implants struggling to fit in at school and keep up with lessons and classroom banter - while being excluded from the deaf community.
In the play, there were differences between the sources of John and Emma's deafness. John was born deaf and rejected by his parents: "My Dad was ashamed. He didn't want a deaf kid... But my daughter's got a dad who knows she's going to grow up to be the cleverest, most beautiful, proudest deaf woman in the world."
Emma, by contrast, was able to hear when she was born, but she lost her hearing ability through meningitis. Her parents reacted very differently from John's: "My mum and dad were amazing...They learnt sign language straight away and really encouraged me."
Notions of normality
The conflict between Emma and John over Ruby escalates. Encouraged by the audiologist, Alex, Emma feels desperate for her daughter to have a 'normal' hearing life, while John expresses concern for her rights as a deaf person, her right to consent to the operation, and a confidence in her ability to find a happy identity as a deaf person.
He says: "She's not broken, she's just deaf! Don't you see any value in being deaf? I don't want access to the hearing world. I love being deaf! Let Ruby choose then! If she comes to me in ten years' time and says 'Daddy I want a cochlear implant,' then fine. But now, she's too young. It's not her decision."
'Playing God' was shown at Wellcome Collection, followed by a discussion session, which indicated a greater understanding of deafness and deaf identity among the attending hearing community. The play also toured widely in the UK in 2007.
The play demonstrated how theatre can be used as a vehicle to develop powerful arguments for self-definition. It also underlined the fact that being deaf simply means being a member of a separate social and cultural group that cherishes its individuality - and individuals.