Charlotte Arrowsmith was the first Deaf BSL actor to appear in a mainstream Royal Shakespeare Company production. This week she directs for the first time, and she has turned Nick Payne’s Constellations into a play running in two languages at once. Four performances only, at Merton Arts Space in Wimbledon, from £14.25.
Hear Art’s production runs from Thursday 17 to Sunday 20 September. It has been developed in British Sign Language and spoken English together from the start, which is the distinction worth making: BSL is not being added over the top of a finished show as an access measure, it is part of how the story gets told.
Why this play, of all plays
Constellations premiered at the Royal Court in 2012 and has since done the West End and Broadway. It follows Marianne and Roland through the same relationship played out across parallel universes, where one different word or a slightly different meeting changes everything that follows. Scenes repeat with tiny variations until you can feel the whole thing pivoting on nothing.
So a production where two languages run through every version of that relationship is not a worthy add-on, it is a structural fit. The languages become part of the branching. It is the rare case of an access-led decision making the play itself more interesting, and it is why this is worth the trip to SW19.
The director
Arrowsmith played Cassandra in Troilus and Cressida for the RSC, the first Deaf BSL actor in a mainstream production there, and later became the first Deaf actor to understudy a principal hearing role for the company, during The Taming of the Shrew. Her other work includes Antony and Cleopatra at Shakespeare’s Globe, Macbeth at Leeds Playhouse and the television series This Is Going to Hurt. This is her first commissioned role as a director.
“I am proud we have created something genuinely collaborative where Deaf and hearing creatives share one vision,” she said. “For me, this production feels like a chance to finally exhale.”
The cast
Stephen Collins plays Roland. He appeared in Dune: Part One and the series Reunion, and on stage has worked with Graeae, Deafinitely Theatre, Leeds Playhouse and Shakespeare’s Globe. “Constellations is a well-loved play,” he said, “but bringing Deaf artists into the heart of it creates something entirely new. Deaf culture and BSL become another universe within the story.”
Kitty Devlin, from Bridgerton, plays Marianne. She is hard of hearing in one ear, which is what led her to learn BSL, and she also works as a Communication Support Worker.
Who Hear Art are
Hear Art is a Deaf-led company founded by Cindy Sasha and Rachel Shenton, who won an Academy Award for the short film The Silent Child. It aims for at least half the crew on every project to be Deaf, and its previous work includes four Deaf-led short films and Shaping Tomorrow, a five-part video podcast made with a production team that was 90 per cent Deaf. Taking on a play as well known as Constellations is a deliberate step up.
The production is backed by the Mayor of London’s Culture and Community Spaces at Risk Programme and by Merton Council, which tells you something about the venue as well as the show.
Our take: one practical thing that catches people out. Merton Arts Space is inside Wimbledon Library, and evening events run outside library hours with access from the Compton Road side rather than the main library entrance, so go round the corner rather than standing at a locked door. It is about eight minutes uphill from Wimbledon station, or the 93 and 200 stop close by. Four performances and a room this size means it will sell out rather than sit half empty, so book before Thursday rather than deciding on the day. The Sunday matinee at 2.30pm is the one to take anyone who finds evening theatre a stretch.
Need to know
- What: Constellations by Nick Payne, presented by Hear Art, directed by Charlotte Arrowsmith, performed in British Sign Language and spoken English throughout
- Where: Merton Arts Space, Wimbledon Library, Compton Road, London SW19 7QA. Evening access is from Compton Road
- When: Thursday 17 to Saturday 19 September at 7.30pm, Sunday 20 September at 2.30pm
- Price: from £14.25
- Booking: on Eventbrite
- Nearest station: Wimbledon
More on this corner of the city in our south London parks guide, and everything else worth booking in our what to do in London this week and London exhibitions guide.
