The Questors Theatre commits to accessibility with captioned performances and new in-house tech
As part of their mission to be more accessible, The Questors Theatre in Ealing has become one of the first amateur theatres in the UK to invest in captioning equipment and commit to captioning one performance of every in-house show, from March 2025.
The Questors Theatre’s mission is to make theatre open to everyone, so we are delighted to announce our commitment to captioning one performance of each of our 18 in-house shows per year. This is a great step in the right direction for a more inclusive theatre and we look forward to welcoming those who are deaf and hard of hearing to enjoy our productions.
Michael Eppy, Executive Director, The Questors Theatre
Captioning displays the spoken word as visible text to provide deaf, deafened and hard of hearing people with access to live performance. Similar to television subtitles, the script is displayed on an LED caption unit on or next to the stage, as the words are spoken or sung. Captions can also include the name of the character speaking and descriptions of any sound effects or music; and are used by anyone who may have difficulty hearing or understanding the audible elements of a live performance.
Demand for captioning is increasing. The Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) report there are 18 million deaf, deafened or hard of hearing adults in the UK and more than half the population aged over 55 have hearing loss. A recent survey shows more than two-thirds of people find it difficult to hear what is happening during a live performance and 31% said they would be more likely to increase their attendance at live shows if captioning was offered. This is also reflected in TV subtitling, with Netflix revealing that 40% of its global viewers have subtitles on all the time, while 80% switch them on at least once a month.
The Questors Theatre has acquired its own in-house captioning equipment thanks to a grant by The Theatres Trust to make regular captioning possible. The equipment has been supplied by Digital 4 and will be operated live during performances by volunteer community captioners, who are being trained by Digital 4’s Director and Questors member, Roger Beaumont. Roger says:
The first two productions to be captioned are:
- Trojan Barbie, 21st to 29th March
captioned performance on 27th March - My Fair Lady, 28th March to 5th April
captioned performance on 3rd April
