Creative sign language brings stories to life for deaf theatre lovers
The importance of artistic creativity when using sign language brings stories to life for people suffering from hearing loss, according to an award-winning poet, writes reporter Aleksandra Zolczynska.
Performer, Zoe McWhinney, uses British Sign Language (BSL) and Visual Vernacular (VV) in storytelling workshops to show how adaptable and inclusive the specialist form of communication is. Zoe, 27, from London, who has worked as an actor as well as alongside theatres, first became interested in poetry as a little girl, when reading bedtime stories and French comics, with her deaf family.
She said: “I liked playing with imagination with my brothers and deaf friends growing up.”
Last year, Zoe was awarded second place in the BSL Poet Laureate competition hosted by the British Deaf Association, for her poem about the history of BSL. It was the first-ever national competition celebrating BSL and VV poetry in the UK, which has returned this year after a successful run. Zoe’s entry poem is a mixture of BSL and Visual Vernacular, or VV, which is a form of creative performance used predominantly by deaf artists which utilises BSL, mime, and physical theatre. She said: “It’s much more cinematic and visceral, than written poetry.”
The history of sign language goes back to Dorothy (Dot) Miles, who is widely believed to be the pioneer of BSL poetry, and inspired many who followed in her footsteps. Zoe, alongside, Pazbi Zavatzki, is a co-founder of BSL Slam, a grassroots slam poetry group which hosted the UK’s first competition in 2017. She said: “We wanted a poetry slam event to happen somehow, and formed a volunteer team from our close friends and family.”
Although there are no plans to hold another slam poetry event under the same name, Zoe is currently co-hosting Dancing Elephants, a series of performance events in Rotherhithe named after one of Dot Miles’s poems. She said: “The events have similar premises of having open stage for a mixture of new and established literary and performing talents, be it stand-up comedy, or indeed poetry.” Zoe regularly posts about her work and other creative involvements on Instagram, and her videos can also be found under the #BardOfBSL hashtag.