Rhiannon Jones and Hannah Brownlie in rehearsal for The Prince and the Pauper. Picture: Danny Kaan
Casting has been announced for new British Sign Language-integrated family musical The Princess and the Pauper.
Due to play the Mowlem Theatre in Swanage from 17-28 August 2021, the gender-swap re-working of Mark Twain’s classic story The Prince and the Pauper will star Rhiannon Jones (Silent Witness, BBC) and Hannah Brownlie (The Offenders, Amazon) in the central roles of Tess Canty and Bess Tudor. They will be joined by David King Yombo (The Visit, National Theatre), Alex Scott Fairley (Blood Brothers West End and UK tour) and Julie Wood (Radio Sea Breeze, TV)
Presented by Hordern Ciani, the production features deaf and hearing actors and includes BSL-inspired choreography, an integrated interpreter and sign song.
Unveiling details of the production, Hordern Ciani’s Katherine Mount said: “As a professional actress and singer with a deaf child, I was profoundly affected by my initial belief that Ethan would never be able to access music.
“Alongside advice to keep background noise to a minimum to encourage listening skills, when Ethan was still a baby, I stopped playing music and found singing an emotional impossibility for years. But when sign song came along, it was life changing.
“Ethan joined The Kaos Signing Choir for Deaf and Hearing Children at the age of six and it was a revelation. Not only did he discover music for the first time, he also gained a new form of expression and had opportunity to perform in amazing venues, culminating in the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics 2012 and his very own CBBC documentary.
“After many years of struggling to find accessible shows to take my son to watch, producing theatre myself and experimenting with the use of British Sign Language in song, the idea for a fully integrated musical was developed and The Princess and the Pauper was born.”
The production’s director Robert Marsden added: “I am delighted to be returning to direct for Hordern Ciani once more. Reframing the Mark Twain story with a re-gendered approach and setting it in Elizabeth I’s reign allows for a fresh telling.
“The piece is about survival, and the fear that comes with seemingly not being able to survive outside of your own world, class, and environment, which of course these characters learn that they are able to do.
“Our production goes back to the origins of storytelling: our six actors, including deaf and hearing actors and integrated signers, tell the story of these two young girls, thrust into new situations, aiming to return to their original habitats, forging new friendships as they come of age and understand the world around them.”
Twain’s much-loved work has been adapted for the innovative production by Dave Simpson with BSL consultant Rebecca A. Withey. The creative team also includes producer and composer Teresa Barlow, deputy stage manager Joanna Nead, associate stage manager Nathalie Perthuisot, fight director Dan Styles, co-lighting designers Thomas Curtis and Ryan Joseph Stafford and set designer Matthew Haysom.
Hordern Ciani developed the production after receiving a grant from the Culture Recovery Fund from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in March this year.
Angela Thomas
SHARE THIS POST:
Comments are closed.