By Canon Deborah Parsons
I was intrigued to discover that the Globe Theatre is currently staging a bilingual production of Shakespeare’s, Antony and Cleopatra using spoken English and British Sign Language.
Whilst the use of British Sign Language in theatre productions isn’t a new concept, Blanche McIntyre’s production is novel in that everyone in the Egyptian Court uses sign language, in sharp contrast to the Romans who communicate using spoken English.
The use of both languages emphasises the stark differences between the two empires. The military-minded Rome is a place of rationality, rigidity, formality in contrast to the Egyptian court, in which Cleopatra and her entourage, exude sensuality and physicality.
But what is most poignant is that at the moments of greatest intimacy, Antony, played by John Hollingworth, shifts from using spoken English to sign language. He learns to speak Cleopatra’s language.
Learning to speak another language or to experience a world different from our own can be a growing edge for all of us.
I was privileged to know Dr Alastair Wells, whom I had known as an outstanding Chair of Governors at Epsom College, parent and former pupil. He unexpectedly became a wheelchair user after chronic illness. The experience opened his eyes to a new perspective as he began to understand first-hand the challenges and obstacles that wheelchair users experience in their daily lives. Sadly, he died recently, but not before he’d campaigned to make the school more wheelchair friendly.
As I write this article, the Paralympics in Paris have just begun. As I have listened to the stories of members of the GB team, I`ve been struck by the resilience, determination and courage that they have shown and humbled by the fact that disability can affect anyone at any age.
In September 2017, Lizzi Jordan was studying psychology at Royal Holloway in Egham, when she contracted a rare form of E. coli after eating a meal at a fast-food restaurant, which caused her to lose her sight.
She knew she had two options: To wallow in self-pity or to use her disability to try something she would never have had the opportunity to do. She chose the latter and made her debut as a para-cyclist in the Paris Paralympics, taking gold medal as she and pilot Dannielle Khan won the women’s B 1,000m time trial gold – just one of the Gold medals won by the GB team so far.
As we embark on a new academic and choir year, and prepare to welcome new members to our community perhaps we can all learn a new language, to experience life from another person’s perspective and to play our part in making our diverse world, more inclusive.