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A Theatre or Arts Organisation
- Why do we need captions in theatres?
- How are captions different from subtitles?
- Why should theatres employ qualified captioners?
- What does a captioner do?
- What do theatre staff need to know about caption units?
- Should theatres offer open or closed captions?
- How can theatres keep track of whether captions are being used by their audiences?
- Where can theatres promote their captioned performances?
- What percentage of the audience will follow or use captions?
- Aren’t caption screens really distracting?
- How long does it take a captioner to prepare a show?
- Don’t you just type everything really, really fast?
Captions make theatre accessible for deaf, deafened and hard of hearing theatre goers.
Provision of captions means the theatres are meeting their duties under the Equality Act 2010.
Captions also make performances more accessible to people for whom English is a second language.
Given the UK’s ageing population, it makes sense to provide performances that will ensure theatre goers can continue to enjoy theatre for as long as possible.
While subtitles will often summarise what is said so as to fit on a screen, captions are created from the script and aim to provide verbatim text of what is spoken wherever possible.
The character names are given each time a character speaks.
Captions are cued live by a theatre captioner and are prepared in advance. Each line of text is timed to the live performance.
Inadequate captioning can be very off-putting and disappointing for deaf, deafened and hard of hearing theatregoers, and can damage their relationship with a certain venue or with theatre in general.
A well captioned show allows deaf people to follow the performance in a way that matches the experience of non-deaf theatregoers without delays, without pre-empting significant lines and including sound effects, music and other details such as accents which add to the story.
Qualified captioners maintain high standards of spelling and grammar so that errors do not grate on the audience. In general, use of captions is associated with improved literacy.
Qualified captioners prepare a script so that it exactly matches what the actors are saying. This involves discussions about the script with the production team as well as attending a number of live shows to edit their version of the script.
The captioner will also add music and sound effects - including song lyrics. Once the captioner has an accurate script with alternate line choices to allow for paraphrasing or varied delivery by actors, they will rehearse cueing the captions using a video recording of the show or by attending a live performance.
Some theatres have their own caption units, some hire them from captioning companies who can assist with advice on where best to position the screens.
Ideally, theatre technicians and directors should consider the position of the caption units when the sets are being designed, taking account of lighting, height, and the position of the audience.
The position of caption screens will vary from venue to venue. For large, end-on venues, two units are often set at either side of the stage at about half the height of the stage, with caption users positioned on one or other side of the auditorium so they can easily follow what is happening on stage and on the caption unit without having to shift position. For smaller venues, one caption screen may be used and positioned according to the best view for as many audience members as possible. Seating allocations can be reserved for the best seats in the house to view the captions, so that caption users are sure to be able to see the screens from their seats.
This is a case of ‘know your audience’.
The National Theatre found that when they streamed performances during the lockdown, 20% of viewers turned on the captions.
They may be using them for a variety of reasons: poor hearing, actors’ dialect and perhaps because the audience member does not have English as a first language.
Open captions have the widest reach.
In live theatre, closed captions are limited in their effect as they rely on people actively opting-in for captions.
TCN is generally in favour of open captions.
It can be hard to monitor whether the captions are being used: patrons who are hard of hearing are often unlikely to interact with front of house staff and open captions allow caption users to make use of the service without needing to identify themselves.
One way is to ask audience members to return their ticket to an usher at the end of the performance if they found the captions helpful.
It’s also worth setting up a user group at your theatre to monitor the quality of the captions and make sure that the best performances are being made accessible for your caption using audiences.
Both Stagetext and TCN promote individual captioned performances through Stagetext’s listings page, and through TCN’s Facebook listings page.
These listings are free of charge.
Generally, theatres include an access performance page on their websites and brochures that will include Audio Described, BSL interpreted, Relaxed and Captioned performances.
One in six of the population has a significant hearing loss.
Sadly, many people with deteriorating hearing stop going to the theatre, believing that it’s no longer accessible for them.
Captions can help turn that around, making theatre and live events accessible.
Not really, no.
The screens feature a black background, the displayed text is soft amber.
Amber is also the easiest colour for deaf people with a sight loss to read.
The vast majority of non-deaf people simply ignore the screens, although many say how much they enjoy reading song lyrics.
Generally, captions are available at one or two performances during a run, so audience members who find captions distracting have plenty of opportunities to access the show without them.
This is another reason to clearly advertise which performances will be captioned, so that all audience members can choose the performance that suits them the best.
As a basic rule of thumb, at least 40 hours’ work goes into creating an accurate caption script.
Each show entails a significant amount of proofreading, checking and rehearsing.
No - the caption script is fully prepared in advance, and the captioner’s job during the show is mainly to make sure they bring up each caption at exactly the right time.
Speech To Text Reporters can provide live captions for unscripted events using a specialised keyboard. Theatre captioners, however, are trained to deliver pre-prepared caption scripts for scripted events. If your event is unscripted and you need an STTR, we recommend contacting Stagetext.
An Audience Member
- What are theatre captions?
- What is a theatre captioner?
- Why do we need captions in theatres?
- How are captions different from subtitles?
- Are captions always available?
- How do I know if an event is captioned?
- Is there any additional cost for captions?
- How can I persuade my local theatre to introduce captioning?
- Why don’t theatres use auto captions?
Captions offer a means of access to the theatre for deaf, deafened and hard of hearing people.
Caption screens display not just character names and dialogue, but also lyrics and sound effects.
Captions accurately reflect the performance and their timing is synchronised.
A theatre captioner is responsible for delivering the text on the caption screens at a captioned performance: the screens display the spoken dialogue and descriptions of music and sound effects as text for the benefit of audience members, in particular those who are deaf, deafened and hard of hearing, so that they can fully engage with the performance.
Captions provide access to people who are deaf, deafened or hard of hearing.
Captions can help all theatre goers if a performance has characters with strong accents, different languages or dialects, or songs.
Theatregoers for whom English is a second language also find captions invaluable.
There are many other reasons why captions may make theatre more accessible or enjoyable for you. You do not need to identify as part of any particular group to seek out, use, or prefer captioned performances.
Subtitles convey the spoken word into text.
Captions include the spoken dialogue and descriptions of sound effects, music, and ambient sound.
Captions are cued live to flow at the same speed as the actors are speaking, this avoids giving away punchlines or important information prematurely, and allows the deaf theatregoer to laugh or gasp along with the hearing audience.
Theatres will schedule captioned performances during the ‘run’ of a performance. If a show you want to see doesn’t appear to have any captioned performances that you can access, you can contact the theatre directly and request captions.
Open captions are visible to the entire audience, usually on screens either side of the stage.
Closed captions are at the request of the individual, using either tablets or specialist glasses that deliver the text to an individual audience member.
You can find out if an event is captioned by checking the access pages on a venue’s website, or by monitoring the Stagetext website or the Theatre Captioner Network’s wesbsite. Some theatres operate an Access List or similar mailing list specifically for accessible performances.
No, there is no additional cost for captions.
In fact, if you sign up with individual theatres as a caption user, you may be allocated seats that are especially set aside for that performance, which are in the optimum position for reading the captions.
Sometimes, if you need someone to come with you as communication support, the theatre may offer tickets for ‘carers’ or ‘essential companions’ at a discounted rate or free of charge.
The more requests a theatre receives for captioning, the more likely it is that the management will consider this option.
You can also point out that under the Equality Act (2010) theatres have a duty to pursue an inclusive approach that makes provision for people with protected characteristics such as hearing or visual impairment.
Auto captions convert the spoken word into text.
The software has seen rapid advances during the Covid pandemic.
However, AI cannot at present reliably detect speech where there is a strong accent or where several people are speaking at once.
Punctuation is often missed or used incorrectly.
There is necessarily a slight delay while the AI interprets the speech.
Sound effects and music are not captioned at all.
Auto captions give deaf, deafened ort hard of hearing audiences a very limited insight into a theatre performance.
Interested in Becoming a Theatre Captioner
- What does the role of a professional Theatre Captioner involve?
- How can I become a Theatre Captioner?
- Can I join the Theatre Captioner Network?
A theatre captioner is responsible for preparing and delivering the text on the caption screens at a captioned performance: the screens display the spoken dialogue and descriptions of music and sound effects as text.
Qualified captioners prepare a script so that it exactly matches what the actors are saying. This involves discussions about the script with the production team as well as attending a number of live shows to edit their version of the script.
Once the captioner has an accurate script with alternate line choices to allow for paraphrasing or varied delivery by actors, they will rehearse their cueing the captions using a video recording of the show or by attending a live performance.
Qualified captioners maintain high standards of spelling and grammar so that errors do not grate on the audience.
There are various courses available to become a theatre captioner. We recommend contacting Stagetext to find out more.
We are always open to accepting new members to the Network. Members must be professional Theatre Captioners to join – if you are interest, get in touch here.