Hello!

At Icarus Theatre Collective we've just opened our “groundbreaking” (Fringe Review) production of The Lesson at Southwark Playhouse which features creative captioning in every performance. This creative captioning design has been developed over an entire year since first being explored as part of a focused ACE funded R+D last year.

As well as increasing accessibility, our aim is for the captioning to be an integral part of the design that aids the production dramatically for all audiences, whether they are reliant on the captions or not.

Join us for this free webinar with our video designer Ben Glover (mentored by Deafinitely Theatre and StageText) to share with you our findings!

This webinar will cover:

An introduction to Creative Captioning

An overview of the current tools/ methodologies (Subtitling systems, Surtitles, QLab, Custom built and a step by step guide of how to use these different methods to achieve the results that you want.

An exploration of our own case study, The Lesson, having used using Creative Captioning in our production of Eugene Ionesco's absurdist political comedy.

Unpicking the current benefits as well as current challenges in the technology and the next steps to move forward.

A Q+A to discuss your own projects and any questions you might have about how to integrate creative captioning within them.

Date: Wednesday 20th July

Time: 11am- 12:30pm

It's free to join but you need to reserve a space to join us!

The webinar will have both Otter.ai captioning and BSL interpretation. (We'd recommend joining via your laptop as opposed to a tablet or phone in order to see the captions and interpreter clearly).

PLUS get 50% off a ticket to see The Lesson that same evening on the 20th July at 8pm at Southwark Playhouse when you reserve your place!

Overview of the Creative Captioning in The Lesson:

In our production of The Lesson, the cast write across the entire set in chalk. The captions in the production mirror fit the world of the play by mirroring the chalk handwriting, and are projected across multiple surfaces over the entire set.

The captions are animated to reflect the tone and quality of the actors’ delivery as well as just the words. For this proaction the captions are also a full part of the world that the catheters can interact with onstage- echoing the absurdist style of Ionesco’s text, whilst integrating seamlessly with the rest of the stage design.

Thanks to:

Arts Council England for supporting both the production and our initial R+D into Creative Captioning. Our video designer Ben Glover has been mentored in his video captioning by Deafinitely Theatre and StageText.