Shakespeare In The Park with audio description

Transcript

17 February 2013

Roberta: Today we have with us Scott Hollier, Project Manager for Media Access Australia, an organisation working to improve access to media for people with a disability and Scott himself is legally blind and he is here to share his experience of seeing the audio described play, Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing.

Welcome, Scott.

Scott: Thanks, Roberta, really great to be back again.

Roberta: Now, first of all, what is audio description, for our listeners who haven’t heard this program, and how does it help when you’re watching a play?

Scott: Audio description is basically when there is a narrator describing what you’re seeing. So sometimes audio description can be used in things like movies, TV shows and in relation to a play – it’s just great to have a voice. Basically you wear a little wireless ear piece and you have a person describing through a microphone what’s going on on-stage, and, yeah, just helps a lot in keeping track of what’s going on and it’s a great thing.

Roberta: Now, how was your experience of the audio description?

Scott: My experience was great. One of the nice things about the play was it was set in the outdoor area of Kings Park which, for people not familiar with Western Australia, it’s a really nice national park. And so on a hot summer’s night we got to go along.

We got to sit in the audience and essentially have the same experience but, as I was saying before, what’s particularly great with live audio description is that you do have that little voice in your ear, through the earpiece, that just kicks in every now and then to describe what’s going on. And it just means that you can share in the same experience.

You can bring your picnic. You can be there with everyone else but you just get that extra bit of information to keep up with what’s going on.

Roberta: I’ve accompanied vision impaired people to the theatre, the indoor theatre, and they’ve told me just what a fantastic experience it is but how was the reception in the outdoors?

Scott: Surprisingly well, I mean, the technology has evolved to a point now where it works extremely well. I mean, occasionally there’d be a little bit of wind in the microphone from the person who’s giving the audio description but that aside, I mean, the wireless technology is flawless. So basically you have just this small, little earpiece and where applicable you get that extra bit of information about what’s going on. So the technology is really well refined now and it works very, very well.

Roberta: So what sorts of things were described?

Scott: Well, the version of Much Ado About Nothing that they had in Perth was a modern adaptation, so it was set in the small coastal town of Albany in the 1940s. So what was really important is that even if you were familiar with Much Ado About Nothing it was really helpful to know what the costumes were. So you get description on the costumes. You get descriptions on people walking on and off stage, especially one major scene where the main character is hiding in the bushes while they’re talking about him.

So to get all the description on “the character is now hiding under the bush, the character is now getting trodden on” because they don’t realise he’s underfoot and there’s a very humorous part of the play and without audio description you just wouldn’t understand what’s going on. So to have that described to you just really brings the play to life.

Roberta: That sounded like a really good evening. Now, what other venues around Australia offer performances with audio descriptions, Scott?

Scott: There are a few. In terms of Shakespeare WA that happens once a year in WA but there are quite a few around the country. There are things like the Ensemble Theatre in Sydney, Performing Arts Centre up in Queensland and the Arts Centre in Melbourne. So there are a number of different areas that people can go to, to experience theatre that’s audio described, and it’s just wonderful that there’s more and more options all the time.

Roberta: And what do you think of DVDs that are audio described? They’d be helpful as well, I guess.

Scott: Absolutely and it is great that more and more we’re getting those options across cinema, across DVD. Whatever you want to experience there are those audio described options. So it’s just great, where things are going.

Roberta: Now, where can people find out which performances are described?

Scott: We have on our Media Access website a Cinema and Arts section and we have lots of information there.

Roberta: Okay, so if you or someone you know would enjoy an audio described performance why not give it a go? Well, thank you, Scott, for all of that.

Scott: A pleasure.

Roberta: And I’ve been speaking with Dr Scott Hollier who seemed to enjoy Much Ado About Nothing very recently at the theatre, outdoor theatre. So if you would like to partake in something like that, please do. You will not regret it.

In Victoria you can contact the Arts Centre on the web or the Ensemble Theatre if you are listening in Sydney or it might be better if you contact Media Access Australia - a very, very easy website to navigate. Media Access Australia are supporters of this program.

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