A very rude audience

When we started to get interviews for the current show, I got quite baffled by the general emphasis on this being a deaf production. Nine out of ten questions addressed to me were questions like, “What misunderstandings, problems or revelations have arisen from working as a hearing person in a deaf ensemble?”

These types of questions basically make me want to shake the reporter and say, Number 1, I think it is healthy to have disagreements in the creative process; and number 2, I’ve always thought of them as actors first and deaf second.

“Do you mean that you think it’s the same working with deaf people as hearing people?”

“No,” I’d say, “Of course it isn’t the same.” (Argh! Shake-shake-shake-shake-shake! Don't reduce what I am trying to say!)

Argh. I mean, obviously there are challenges of language, but it’s no more than working with people of different cultures. I guess I’ve been in so many situations (Linnan, Poland, Paris) where I didn’t speak the language very well that I’ve just learnt how to get around this and figure out ways to express what I want to say with simple words and the most direct means possible. Similarly, in Burnt Mango we work with people of different nationalities/mother tongues, so we’re pretty much used to translating and making sure that everyone gets included in the conversation.

But today I could really feel a difference between the fact that I could hear and the rest of the ensemble couldn’t. I can now finally answer the question, “What’s the most challenging thing you have found working as the only hearing person in a deaf ensemble?”

Our show opened today to a theatre of secondary school students. The whole theatre was packed, and when we turned on the UV lights, you could see the whole audience glow from a sea white uniforms. The students were an unruly bunch, somewhat hyper, and took to commenting (loudly) on the show while we were performing.

I was furious. The students obviously thought that because the performers couldn’t hear them, it was ok for them to talk during the performance. Little did they know that I could hear…

On the level of acting, it was interesting for me to see what I could do to adjust. Acting is, after all, a projection of energy and a manipulation of the audience’s attention. As the first person starting, for example, I took more time than usual and made my movements slower and more deliberate in order to dampen berserk energy. (Ideally, if I was the one calling the shots backstage, I would have refused to start until the audience was silent – something I do all the time as a teacher with unruly classes. I’ve learnt that waiting them out is usually more effective than yelling at them to be quiet, because when you set the norm of being calm.)

Actually, it felt a bit surreal to hear all those comments, and to know that I was the only one in the ensemble that could hear them. I really had to push myself to focus upon the reality of the play; and failing that, the next best thing is to channel my anger into my performance. So if my volcanoes were more explosive than usual, or my raptor more vicious, so much the better. This sort of scenario is a definite challenge to my professionalism (to deliver one’s best no matter how sucky the audience is), but on the other hand, it also crossed my mind: if theatre is a dialogue, what is the purpose of conversing if the other party is not ready to listen? I wonder if it had been my own production, if I would have had the guts to stop the show and say to the students, “Ok, this is out of bounds. We need some basic respect here.”

Of course, historically theatre audiences were pretty uncivilized. Even in Shakespeare’s time the pit of the Globe Theatre was full of rabble who would eat and chat while the show was going on, and throw things at the performers if they didn't like the show. So the norm of a polite, attentive audience is something that developed over time. Still, I’m pretty sure that the students would not have been so blatant if it had been a hearing ensemble, and that – for me, makes their behavior downright rude.

I was thinking, (unfortunately, during the performance, which almost made me miss a cue), how I would like to sit down and have a proper dialogue with the students. For example, one of the comments I heard a student say quite loudly during the scene where the dinosaurs were wiped out was「又死啊.. 死過又返生」(Not another death... just wait, they’re going to come to life again… ) . I actually think that this is an interesting observation, that throughout history things keep getting eaten and wiped out, and new life takes its place. I would have loved to address that student and say, “Well the question is, do you think we’re going to wipe ourselves out?”

But of course, the Q&A was not really a forum for proper dialogue, and for some reason, I also found it hard to speak. It felt much more natural to speak sign language, and be part of the ensemble.
I better get some rest. Tomorrow is another performance.

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「無言天地」劇團:《創世記》
Theatre of Silence's "Creation" has two student shows, but members of the public can join us on:
Saturday 26 Sept (8pm), Sunday 27 Sept (3pm) 2009
Ngau Chi Wan Civic Center
(I'm expecting the audience of the public performance to be more mature.)