Shakespeare’s Globe welcomes bilingual British Sign Language production

Shakespeare’s words are often read, sometimes spoken but rarely signed.

A new production of Antony and Cleopatra at Shakespeare’s Globe is a combination of all three.

The epic love story sees Roman general Antony fall for Egyptian Queen Cleopatra, with the Romans using spoken English and the Egyptians adopting British Sign Language.

It’s been in the works since 2019, with the company behind the show finding a new way to perform an old play.

Nadia Nadarajah, a deaf actor, plays Cleopatra and has been influential in bringing the project to life.

Before rehearsals started, they spent more than a week adapting Shakespearean text into British Sign Language (BSL). For many of the words, there wasn’t a gesture that existed.

Stood on the sunny roof of The Globe, Nadia tells me that "it’s really exciting but it’s challenging. For us the story is the most important thing to tell.

"It was about two languages, two cultures, two different groups, East and West, man and woman, power dynamics as well.

"It’s just thinking about those opposites and how we convey that as well, how do we merge that with the story. That has very much been the challenge, the translation."

More than 150,000 people in the UK use BSL and around 25,000 use it as their main language.

Plans are in place to introduce BSL as a GCSE option from as soon as 2025, something which Nadia believes will make society more inclusive.

She notes that "it’s an invisible disability. You don’t know somebody is deaf."

"So if there is an emergency at a train station, the fact that anyone within the community could potentially sign to a deaf member of society.

"I think it’s really important. It’s important to not be a second-class citizen, it’s about being a first-class citizen."

Starring opposite Nadia is John Hollingworth, who’s appeared in the film Napoleon (2023) and hit TV series Mr Bates vs The Post Office.

He takes on the role of Antony and believes their unique way of telling this story, which includes the whole thing being captioned and displayed on monitors, will actually ease understanding.

He says: "I think it’s helpful for us and the audience. Sometimes Shakespeare can be quite difficult, people cannot be quite sure what they are saying." The bilingual aspect "maps brilliantly onto the world of the play. It is very readable for an audience and it’s a fantastic way to open the play up to a wider audience."

A total of 12 deaf artists are working on the project across the company, 6 on stage and 6 behind the scenes. John acknowledges that "it can be difficult for deaf actors to find work.." In addition to Nadia, "we’ve got Rhiannon May, William Grint, Zoe McWhinney, Nadeem Islam and Gabriella Leon." "Our show is a celebration of fantastic actors who are doing great work."

Antony & Cleopatra runs from 4 August to 15 September at the Globe Theatre.

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