Deepa Shastri

What this episode covers

Deepa Shastri, an actress, sign song performer and British Sign Language consultant. Deepa explores how Deaf culture and sign language being represented in the arts is so important to the deaf community but also how the arts and sign language naturally go hand in hand - due to the visual and expressive nature of sign language. Back in the 80s, when Marlee Matlin became the first deaf Oscar winner for her performance in 'Children of a Lesser God', things were about to become very exciting for the deaf arts. Fast forward a few decades, Deepa shares how we are now entering a new era where deaf people are being represented on screen and on stage with the likes of Rose Ayling-Ellis picking up the Glitterball, Sophie Stone appearing in Dr. Who and Nadeem Islam making waves on series such as ITV's 'The Bay'. Theatre companies such as Deafinitely Theatre were and continue to be the breeding ground of deaf talent. Within the context of exploring Deafinitely Theatre's work, Deepa explores the complex process of translating Shakespeare plays to British Sign Language and how BSL has its limitations; we do not have signs for every word that exists in the English Dictionary which makes translation difficult. Still, the positives outweigh the limitations. Sign language is very poetic which bodes well for Shakespeare plays in sign language. Deepa concludes that she believes we're entering the golden age for deaf performers as sign language and deaf performers are appearing on all platforms to show the beauty of sign language and how it elevate a performance or a production. A Flashing Lights Media production for BBC Radio 3.

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