Theatre has long been important for the Deaf community, as a form of social expression and participation. Here we see the York Deaf Social Club circa 1920 doing a Victorian farce, The Ghost in a Pawnshop.

In 1960 the NID MIME GROUP was set up by Pat Keysell and Ursula Eason. It developed into the British Theatre of the Deaf in 1969.

Deafinitely Theatre are the best known Deaf Theatre company in the U.K. Their latest offering in February is aimed at children – Tyrannosaurus Drip – “A visual adaptation of the book by Julia Donaldson and David Roberts. When an egg is stolen from the nest of a waterweed-munching Duckbill Dinosaur only to end up on the other side of the river in the nest of a meat-eating Tyrannosaurus Rex, the life ahead for the unborn dinosaur is likely to be a difficult one.”

The RNID Mime Group and the Theatre of the Deaf

The N.I.D. Mime Group. Silent World, 1961, 15(12), 372-374. (photos)

The Waxworks Mystery. Hearing, 1965, 20, 108-09.

Mime at Mayfair: the first West End production by the RNID Mime Group. Hearing, 1965, 20, 372-373.

The R.N.I.D. Mime Group. Hearing, 1968, 23, 16-18.

KEYSELL, P. British Theatre of the Deaf, 1960-1977. Deaf Arts UK, 1999, 8, 7-9; 1999, 9, 3-6, 15. (photos)

SCHLISSELMAN, I. A brief historical outline of the British Theatre of the Deaf. Deaf History Journal, 2000, Suppl. 6,  3-7.

Here is a long list of suggested reading on Deaf Theatre, not all to be found in the library.

ABBOTSON, S.C.W., 2003. Thematic Guide to Modern Drama. Greenwood.

ANDREWS, R.H., Deaf Theatre Performance: An Aristotelean Approach.

BALDWIN, S.C., A History of the National Theatre of the Deaf from 1959 to 1989.

BRADFORD, S., 2005. The National Theatre of the Deaf: Artistic Freedom and Cultural Responsibility in the Use of American Sign Language. In: C. SANDAHL, P. AUSLANDER and P. PHELAN, eds, U of Michigan P, pp. 86-94.

BRADFORD, S.L., 2001. The Australian Theatre of the Deaf: Essence, Sensibility, Style, U of Texas, Austin.

BREWER, D., 2002. West Side Silence: Producing West Side Story with Deaf and Hearing Actors. Theatre Topics, 12(1), pp. 17-34.

COHEN, H.U., 1989. Theatre by and for the Deaf. TDR: The Drama Review: A Journal of Performance Studies, 33(1), pp. 68-78.

DAVIDSON, M., 2006. Hearing Things: The Scandal of Speech in Deaf Performance. In: H.L. BAUMAN, J.L. NELSON, H.M. ROSE, W.C. STOKOE, W.J.T. MITCHELL and C.A. PADDEN, eds, U of California P, pp. 216-234.

DAVIDSON, M., 2002. Hearing Things: The Scandal of Speech in Deaf Performance. In: S.L. SNYDER, B.J. BRUEGGEMANN, R. GARLAND-THOMSON and M. BÉRUBÉ, eds, Modern Language Association of America, pp. 76-87.

DENEULIN, A., 1973. The National Theatre of the Deaf. Kunst en Cultuur, 31 May, pp. 14-14.

FANT, L., 1980. Drama and Poetry in Sign Language: A Personal Reminiscence. In: C. BAKER, R. BATTISON, M.D. GARRETSON, W.C. STOKOE and R. STOKOE, eds, Nat. Assoc. of the Deaf, pp. 193-200.

FRERE, J., 2004. But All the World Is Deaf: Theatre Bazi’s Production of The Mute Who Was Dreamed. TheatreForum, 24, pp. 45-52.

HARRINGTON, B., 1991. Non-Traditional Casting Update: Interview with Linda Bove. TDR: The Drama Review: A Journal of Performance Studies, 35(2), pp. 13-17.

INGALLS, Z., 2000. On Prospero’s Island, Deaf and Hearing Students Learn to Act Together. Chronicle of Higher Education, 46(45), pp. B2-B2.

KELLETT BIDOLI, C.,J., 2008. Transfer and Construction of Identity and Culture in Audiovisual Feature Film Translation for the Italian Deaf Community. In: C.J.K. BIDOLI and E. OCHSE, eds, Peter Lang, pp. 403-432.

KISHI, M., 2003. Shuwa myūjikaru e no henshin: Shinsei Big River. Eigo Seinen/Rising Generation, 149(7), pp. 429-429.

KOCHHAR-LINDGREN, K., 2006. Hearing Difference across Theatres: Experimental, Disability, and Deaf Performance. Theatre Journal, 58(3), pp. 417-436.

KOCHHAR-LINDGREN, K., 2002. Listening with the Third Ear: Kabuki, Bharata Natyam and the National Theatre of the Deaf. Journal of American Drama and Theatre, 14(2), pp. 35-43.

LINDGREN, K.A., DELUCA, D. and NAPOLI, D.J., 2008. ASL in Performance: A Conversation with Adrian Blue. In: Deaf culture, identity, language, and arts  K.A. LINDGREN, D. DELUCA and D.J. NAPOLI, eds, Gallaudet UP, pp. 232-238.

NOVAK, P., 1996. Jorjan Lynn Jeter: The Stuff of Dreams. American Theatre, 13(10), pp. 42-42.

PEARSON-DAVIS, S., 1986. Working with Deaf and Hearing Actors in the Same Cast: Even If You Don’t Know Sign Language! Youth Theatre Journal, 1(1), pp. 15-19.

PETERS, C., 2006. Deaf American Theater. In:
Signing the Body Poetic; Essays on American Sign Language Literature H.L. BAUMAN, J.L. NELSON, H.M. ROSE, W.C. STOKOE, W.J.T. MITCHELL and C.A. PADDEN, eds, U of California P, pp. 71-92.

RICH, J.D., 1972. National Theatre of the Deaf. Players: Magazine of American Theatre, 47, pp. 115-119.

ROBINSON, C.L., 2006. Visual Screaming: Willy Conley’s Deaf Theater and Charlie Chaplin’s Silent Cinema. In: H.L. BAUMAN, J.L. NELSON, H.M. ROSE, W.C. STOKOE, W.J.T. MITCHELL and C.A. PADDEN, eds, U of California P, pp. 195-215.

RUEBHAUSEN, D.K., 0101. Art Made Accessible: Redefining Accessibility and Cross-Cultural Communication for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing in American Theatre Institution, U of Minnesota.

SCHIMMEL, K.M., 0101. The Effects of Changes in the Rhetoric of the Deaf Culture upon Hearing Playwrights in the Twentieth Century, Bowling Green State U.

STOKOE, W.C., 1984. Not Found, Created: A Major New Source for the Study of Sign Language and Culture: A Review of Sign Me Alice II by Gilbert Eastman. Sign Language Studies, 42, pp. 57-64.

WILSON, J., 1997. Signs of Definitions. In: A. POINTON, C. DAVIES and P. MASEFIELD, eds, British Film Institute, pp. 179-181.

ZACHARY, S.J., 1995. The National Theatre of the Deaf and the Teatr mimiki i zhesta: Two Views on Theatre of the Deaf. Theatre Topics, 5(1), pp. 53-67.

ZACHARY, S.J., 1984. A Language Rationale for Conventional Readers Theatre of the Deaf. Literature in Performance: A Journal of Literary and Performing Art, 5(1), pp. 20-28.