DEAF actors Bea Webster and Benedetta Zanetti are making history by becoming the first two D/deaf performers to feature in a hearing-led pantomime in Scotland.
Both graduates of the Royal Conservatoire in Glasgow, they are starring in Mother Goose at Ayr Gaiety until January 4.
The show will be the theatre’s first in-house production to feature actors performing in BSL, Sign Supported English and spoken English throughout.
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The show is supported by Solar Bear – one of Scotland’s foremost inclusive theatre companies.
Glasgow-based Scottish/Thai Deaf queer actor, writer and theatre maker, Webster takes on the role of Angel in the production. An alumnus of Solar Bear’s Deaf Youth Theatre, Webster was nominated for Best Actor in the 2019 Stage Debut Awards for their performance in Mother Courage And Her Children.
Zanetti, who plays Margherita, is an actor, director and writer whose recent credits include Funnybones, Dreams & Nightmares, Zoe’s Peculiar Journey Through Time and Creatures.
Mother Goose also features Fraser Boyle in the titular role as pantomime’s most famous dame and a stellar cast of Scottish performers including returning favourites Gavin Jon Wright, Chiara Sparkes, Dani Heron, and Rachel Campbell.
Gaiety artistic director Vince Hope said: “The Gaiety is delighted to be fulfilling our ambition to have two deaf performers in Mother Goose, and we want this to be a genuinely positive experience for the actors and audiences.
“Last year we made a commitment to spend time researching, understanding, and planning for specific requirements that deaf performers might need for working in the panto environment.
“Having had this focus, working closely with Solar Bear and the actors themselves, with input and support from BSL consultants and translators, this feels like creatively we’ve taken yet another big leap forward with our panto.”
Jennifer Bates, Solar Bear creative director/CEO, added: “Supporting Ayr Gaiety’s panto, Mother Goose, is something that I am so very proud of. For such a long time, there has been a notable absence of deaf actors on our main stages at Christmas. Now, there is not one deaf actor employed but two, and I know that both Bea and Benny will be brilliant.
“Solar Bear has been working with the team at Ayr as they relish the creative challenge of working in a bilingual room – playing with the richness and complexity that can be explored when working with BSL and visual communication, all the while making sure best practice, equality, access, and inclusivity are at the heart of the process.”
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