list.co.uk/festival People of the Eye | FESTIVAL FEATURES
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Merging sign language, video projection, sound and physical theatre, People of the Eye takes a trip into a world more often seen than heard. Gareth K Vile talks to the creative force behind the show
functions of perspectives and experiences theatre
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P erhaps one of the most important to present that would otherwise be consigned to the margins. For People of the Eye, Erin Siobhan Hutching draws on her own family experiences to present a vision of the world that is rarely discussed outside of a specii c community.
‘My sister is deaf and I grew up using sign language with her,’ she says, ‘but I didn’t have much to do with the deaf community apart from my relationship with my sister. In 2014, I was back home in New Zealand for her wedding and I had a wonderful experience with the deaf community. The wedding was attended by both deaf and hearing and was accessible to both sides, being interpreted by an amazing sign
language interpreter. For some of my extended family, this was the i rst time they had really been able to see my sister’s personality due to an inability to easily and fully communicate with her when we were growing up.’ Inspired by this experience, Hutching decided to create a world that is, partially, a remedy to a personal ambition. ‘My sister had never had the opportunity to see me in a performance which was fully accessible to her.’ However, People of the Eye evolved into a work that integrates sign language to explore wider matters.
As well as sign language, Hutching engages the full panoply of theatre’s visual strategies to conjure a story that explores the difi culties of communication. Hutching’s autobiography is an important source – the action revolves
around a family similar to her own, attempting to raise a deaf child – but the use of video projection, sound and physical theatre promises an immersive journey into an unfamiliar yet beautiful environment. ‘We hope that the audience will see the world from a new perspective,’ she continues, ‘or perhaps feel they’ve i nally seen themselves and their experiences on the stage.’ This double intention – both showing the deaf experience and addressing a deaf audience – is ingrained in the production and the process. ‘We’d love for the audience to experience the feeling of “otherness” and celebrate that. But we wanted to make sure both the deaf and hearing audience have an equal, although perhaps different, experience.’
4–11 Aug 2016 THE LIST FESTIVAL 23