Our writer/performer Erin Siobhan Hutching was interviewed by Martin Ballard for BBC Radio Leicester ahead of our show at Attenborough Arts Centre (TRANSCRIPT BELOW)
Listen to the interview here - starting at 39 minutes into the program. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05l1wg8#play
Martin:
Now, after a successful run at the Edinburgh Fringe as part of Northern Stage’s program at Summerhall in 2016, the DH, or Deaf and Hearing, Ensemble, are bringing People of the Eye to the Attenborough Arts Centre in Leicester tomorrow as part of an extensive tour this autumn. Writer/performer Erin Siobhan Hutching has created a fascinating story about a family navigating their way through the Deaf world based on her own experiences and I’m pleased to say she joins me now. Erin, good evening to you.
Erin:
Hello, how are you?
Martin:
I’m good thank you. Just tell me a little bit about your experience particularly with your sister.
Erin:
Yes, sure. My sister is profoundly deaf, and she is three years older than me, so I grew up using sign language so there’s home movies of me learning to sign as I learnt to speak at about 10 months of age, and that’s what inspired me to create this piece.
Martin:
And it is interesting because the doctors told your parents not to use sign language initially didn’t they?
Erin:
They did. It’s very common advice – it was in the 80s when my sister was born but actually still is now and has been refuted by lots of studies which show that being bilingual is obviously beneficial for most children regardless of whether they are deaf or hearing. But yeah, it was something they were told, and fortunately they were also given other advice and had the opportunity to learn sign language, so that was advice that they disregarded, and that worked really well for us to have Spoken English and sign language in the family.
Martin:
Before we talk about People of the Eye, how much of your relationship with your sister, would it have been different without sign language.
Erin:
Absolutely. I think so. I mean,there are lots of families in which a Deaf member of the family might feel quite isolated or have communication difficulties. Growing up, I didn’t realise that there were families that maybe experienced that. But for me, having that language with my sister, we even had our own secret sign language that we made up when we were children (both laugh) something that just the two of us knew so we could get away with saying all sorts of things and the adults wouldn’t know. So I think it really brought us closer together, and of course I interpreted a lot for her in many situations so that brought another a layer of closeness but also complexity to our relationship.
Martin:
There’s an awful lot of this story in People of the Eye then isn’t there?
Erin:
There is. I mean I started off writing a story about a fictional family that sort of closely resembled mine but then at some point along the way the director said well, you know, look it really is about your family so you might as well just accept that and make it an autobiographical piece. And we even use real-life home movie footage of my family in the show.
Martin:
Now this isn’t just exclusively a performance for the Deaf and hard of hearing, is it? This is a performance that everybody can come to and get something from.
Erin:
Yes, absolutely. So we’re very much a sort of mainstream theatre company and we make work for a mainstream theatre audience but we want to also welcome a Deaf and hard of hearing audience in on an equal basis. So rather than having an interpreter stand to the side or captions which might feel quite divorced from the action, everything – you know, the access – is in from the very beginning of the creative process for us, so we think about that and we let it inform the way that we actually make the work so that everyone might not get the same experience but they will be treated equally.
Martin:
And, it was devised or directed by founder member Jennifer Bates who lead Solar Bear theatre company’s Deaf Youth Theatre for a few years, and parts of the piece devised with Sophie Stone who people might know because she appeared in two episodes of Doctor Who of course.
Erin:
She did! Sophie is fabulous. She’s a lead artist in our company. So there’s myself, Jennifer and Sophie, and there’s another wonderful actor called Stephen Collins, and we run The Deaf & Hearing Ensemble but we also work with freelance artists. And Sophie was a very big part of the process for me. She jumped on board with the project when it was really just an idea with a bare minimum of a script and her creative experience and her personal experience as a Deaf person really helped me to make the work.
Martin:
Now, you’ve done three dates I think already, but you’re here in Leicester tomorrow. How’s it been received so far?
Erin:
Really well. We’ve been really excited because all the places that we’ve been to, we’ve not toured to before as a company so it’s been lovely to find a new audience. We were in Suffolk last night in a place called Lowestoft and we had a really gorgeous audience and quite a few Deaf people came along so we were really pleased about that. It’s really interesting when you’ve made something for the Fringe Festival, and we’ve done it several times in London, to bring it to different venues and see how it’s received. I think it is really nice coming out of London and making sure that we can really reach a wider audience.
Martin:
So it’s the Attenborough Arts Centre in Leicester tomorrow then. For anybody who’s listening whose wondering, “What can I expect to see or hear” just sell the show for us. Tell us what to expect.
Erin: (Laughs) That’s always such a difficult question. Okay, well, there’s two performers in the piece. It’s a really intimate, immersive experience. You might even be asked to join in a little bit but nothing too scary. We use spoken English, we use sign language which is integrated, we have creative captions which really represent the tone and emotion of what’s being said as well as the content, and we also have a lot of soundscape and video projection, so all of these things come together to tell the story of a family and their journey into finding a new language and culture.
Martin:
Well it sounds fantastic. Thank you for bringing it to Leicester. I’m sure it will be a major success. Erin, thank you for talking to us.
Erin:
Thank you very much for having me.
Martin:
Thank you. Erin Siobhan Hutching. That is the play, the performance, project, call it what you will. It’s at the Attenborough Arts Centre tomorrow. It sounds absolutely fantastic. It’s called People of the Eye. If you’ve got time, go along and see it.