STAGETEXT is a UK organization that provides captioning services for live theatre performances. They work with over 40 theatres to provide captioning equipment and train theatre captioners. STAGETEXT delivers over 220 captioned performances per year using a variety of captioning technologies and works to develop captioning standards and expand access to theatre for deaf audiences. The presentation discusses STAGETEXT's history and services, captioning basics and technology options, the captioning process, training for captioners, and operational models for captioning that UK theatres use.

1. Making Every Word Count
- Theatre Captioning in the UK
Lissy Lovett – General Manager of STAGETEXT (UK)

2. Running order
• Who is STAGETEXT?
• Captioning basics
• Technology
• Software
• Captioning Process
• Captioner Training
• Operational Models

3. Making every word count
WHO IS STAGETEXT?

4. Background to STAGETEXT
• Founded in 2000
• 4 of our 6 Trustees and 1 of our 6 staff
are deaf, deafened or hard of hearing
• Funded by Arts Council England and
charges to theatres
• Work in theatres, museums and
galleries

5. What does STAGETEXT do?
• Delivers English captions/subtitles for
events which are spoken in English
• Helps theatres set up their own
captioning services
• Develops technology
• Develops audiences

6. STAGETEXT’s achievements
in theatre
• STAGETEXT delivers 220 captioned
performances each year
• Over 40 theatres now have access to
their own captioning equipment
across the UK
• Over 40 people are trained as theatre
captioners in the UK
• Wide range of types of events

7. Belgrade
Theatre, Coventry
Making every word count
CAPTIONING BASICS

8. What can you make out from
this piece of spoken text?
Sound file from the University
of Manchester

9. What can you make out
this time?

10. Video created by
www.makesensedesign.com

11. Who uses captions?
• Deaf, deafened and hard of hearing
people who wish to access plays in English
– 1 in 6 of population
– Wide range of types & severity of hearing loss
• People whose hearing is not as sharp as it
used to be
– 40% of people over the age of 50 and 70% of
those over 70 have age-related hearing loss
• Hearing audiences

12. The audience

13. Questions so far?
Actors’ warm-up prior to captioned
performance of Life is a Dream,
Donmar Warehouse, 18 November 2009.
Photographer: Matt Humphrey

14. Making every word count
TECHNOLOGY

15. Display options
Open Closed
captioning captioning
Gaiety Theatre,
Isle of Man

16. Open captioning Closed captioning
Pros Pros
• Audience doesn’t have • More likely to be
to declare available every night
• No change of focus Cons
between captions and • Change of focus
stage between device and
• Sociable activity stage is difficult
Cons • Missing action on stage
• Unit positioning crucial when reading text
to experience

17. Open captioning –
LED displays
Miss Saigon. With kind permission of
Cameron Mackintosh Limited.
Bristol Hippodrome
Photo: Freia Turland
Gwion Wyn Jones in Oliver! With kind
permission of Cameron Mackintosh Limited.
Photo: Simon Annand

18. LCD displays
Going Dark, by Fuel
at the Young Vic Theatre, London
The Captioning Studio, Australia

19. Projection
Tin Bath Theatre
Company
Reasons to be Cheerful,
Graeae Theatre Company

20. Positioning of open captions
• Positioning of the captioning displays
can make or break the performance
• Need to consider
– Configuration of the stage/seating
– Are there pieces of the set flying in or out?
– Where are the speakers being hung?
– Where are the lights shining?
– Where is the seating for caption users?

21. British Sign Language
Interpreter
standing
stage right
Credit: the See
a Voice project
www.see-a-
voice.org

22. Captioned performance of
Little Women
Sadler’s Wells
22

23. Transcribed post-show
discussion following a
performance of
Yellowman
Hampstead Theatre
23

24. Captioning
Unit flown
low at back
of stage

25. Captioned performance of Miss Saigon
Captioned performance of Miss Saigon at the Bristol at the Bristol Hippodrome
Hippodrome
Photographer: Freia Turland

26. Captioning
Units either
side of stage

27. Getting It Wrong and Getting It Right
• ‘The poorly positioned boxes meant that the
captions were so high up and too far to the
left and right of the stage that it was
impossible to follow the captions and the
action.’
• ‘I found the captioning truly impressive - not
at all intrusive. It was sited in the middle of
the set, and felt a natural part of it. In fact, it
works so well, it's almost as if it's always been
there and I've only just noticed.’

28. Closed captioning
Handheld devices
Airscript Durateq
Figaro

29. The future?
Sony’s subtitling glasses

30. STAGETEXT use LED displays

31. STAGETEXT’s captioning equipment
Microphone
Caption unit cable
Laptop
Interface
2nd caption unit
Bristol Old Vic
Photo: Mike Lusmore

32. Questions about technology?

33. Captioned performance of
Hansel and Gretel
Northern Stage
Photo: Linda Borthwick
Make every word count
SOFTWARE

34. Software
Requirements Possibilities
• Import text In the UK we have used:
• Edit text • Eclipse
• Output text • CaptionView
• Skip sections And now
• Add ad-libs • STAGETEXT bespoke
software

35. STAGETEXT’s software

36. Questions about software?
Captioned performance of
Aladdin, The Wok ‘n’ Roll Panto
New Wolsey, Ipswich.
Photo: Mike Kwasniak

37. Making every word count
CAPTIONING PROCESS

38. The captioning process
Imported to
Electronic Initial First script
STAGETEXT
script formatting check
software
Second script Refinement of Checks with Work with
check formatting company DVD
Check
Final
queries with Performance!
formatting
company

39. Formatting

40. Final formatted captions

41. Captioning challenges
• 3,500 to 6,000 lines per script
• Up to 60 hours formatting time
• Spelling and punctuation
• Research
– Checking spellings
– Foreign languages
– Song lyrics

42. UK captioning conventions
• Full text of play, nothing omitted
– Exception when lines overlap, or very fast
• Character names included
• Sound and musical effects included
– Present tense
– In the world of the play, so “shouts from garden”
not “shouting off stage”
• Minimal interpretation
• Accents sometimes included
• Emotions rarely included
• Nothing is translated

43. Who is using the captions?
New Wolsey Theatre
• 359 people in audience
• 17 people booked for captioning
with box office (4% of total
audience)
• 103 people returned the card to
say that they had found the
captions useful (29% of total
audience)
• CONCLUSION: 20 to 30% of your
total audience will be using the
captioning but will not have
declared as caption users

44. Making every word count
CAPTIONER TRAINING

45. Who makes a good captioner?
• Excellent spelling, punctuation and
grammar – we need people who care
about apostrophes
• Confident around computers
• Confident when liaising with theatre
companies (but not too pushy!)
• Someone who would enjoy bringing
theatre to people who otherwise
would miss out

46. UK captioners
• Only one or two for whom captioning
is a full-time job
• Usually caption as a part-time job
on top of regular employment
• Mostly professional (i.e. paid)
• Come from theatre backgrounds,
deaf organisational backgrounds, or
completely unrelated backgrounds

47. What does captioner training need
to include?
1. Seeing a Captioner training at the Wales
captioned show Millennium Centre, Cardiff
2. Process
3. Conventions
4. Software training
5. How to liaise
with theatre staff
6. Practice

48. STAGETEXT captioner training
3 or 4 days
Pre-training Work at
face-to-
tests home
face training
Examined Mentored Supported
show show show

49. Questions about captioning
and captioners?
Captioned performance of
Hansel and Gretel
Northern Stage
Photo: Linda Borthwick

50. Making every word count
OPERATIONAL MODELS

51. UK captioning models
Equipment Captioners
• Hire in from STAGETEXT • Hire in from STAGETEXT
• Own their own • Train in-house people
• Share some locally • Hire in freelancers
• Touring theatre • Train touring company
company own members
equipment
All combinations of the above happen in the UK

52. Using an external provider
• They provide the equipment and the
captioner and do all the hard work
• You will need to take responsibility for
securing a script for the captioner to
use
• You still need to get the audience
there!

53. Captioned show process for
STAGETEXT
Book captioner Double check Confirm DVD &
Find suitable date
(and STTR if which equipment script will be Arrange site visit
& time
necessary) will be used available
Send captioner Send order Check booking Check allocation Send branding
brief acknowledgment details of seats information
Check all’s well Contact
Send post-show Remind theatre
with theatre & Technical brief Company
discussion details to test loop
captioner Manager
Add new
On show day Prepare FOH
caption-user Follow up with
Collate feedback attend get in, posters &
names to theatre
brief ushers, etc feedback forms
database

54. Having an in-house service
• You need equipment and staff who
can set it up
• You need a locally-based captioner
who has been trained
• You will need to take responsibility for
securing a script for the captioner to
use
• You will need to get in the audience

55. Sharing resources locally
• Are there any other theatres that
might be interested in sharing
equipment with you?
• Might they also be interested in sharing
the costs of training a captioner?
• Huge benefit is that you can work
together on developing audiences
and you can be sure that your
captioned performances will never
clash!

56. Working with your captioner
• Contract
• Fees and expenses
• Who owns the script?
• Will the captioner share the script
and whose decision is that?

57. Questions about our operating
models, or anything else?

58. Thank you!

59. Contact details
Lissy Lovett Tel: 020 7377 0540
General Manager Mobile: 07813 139408
STAGETEXT
www.twitter.com/STAGETEXT
First Floor, 54 Commercial St, www.facebook.com/STAGETEXT
London E1 6LT www.youtube.com/STAGETEXT
www.stagetext.org
lissy@stagetext.org
www.twitter.com/lissylovett