Windows and doors into language barriers – on the accessibility of language in theatre

I now live a foreign country and attend a school where I don’t speak the language as an exchange student. I learn and forget increasingly confounding words on a daily basis. In a new language environment, surrounded by new people, I focus on being as outwardly approachable as possible to understand and be understood.

In the Culture for All blog text of 15 March 2019, Ulla Arkoma sheds light on the learning of young people with an immigrant background in comprehensive school. She writes how those who are not impended by a language barrier can easily nod off in class and brush past the information that doesn’t interest them. Those who don’t yet speak the language have to try hard to glean every sliver of information to gain an understanding. Before moving to a foreign country, I wouldn’t have grasped what Arkoma was saying as extensively as I do now.

The working language at my school is German. Everyone knows English but many say they prefer not to speak it. When I ask what we are talking about, people often don’t know, since the process of learning is still in progress. They have the opportunity to challenge themselves at the post-language level where abstract thought models converge, while I’m struggling to find a context for the few words I understood.

Language builds invisible rooms in which some people belong and others do not. You can enter a new room by learning the language in question. As a language learner who doesn’t yet speak the language, you will always be a bystander for a time – peeking in through the door into the room where those proficient in the language are communicating with each other. When all those present are not bound by shared language-related paradigms, every word spoken in the language of the majority equals another brick in the language barrier. Someone having the consideration to switch languages or interprete is a big help in getting through many situations where this is disregarded.

The theatre, which is where I spend much of my time here in Berlin, has become a safe environment in which I feel that I understand and am understood, since the language barrier in this context has plenty of doors, windows and openings. Many theatres have English captions. Some also provide audio description or sign language interpretation. The joy of being able to enjoy theatre and understand what is being talked about has lent me a great deal of energy for justifying my presence in an environment that speaks a foreign language.

In Finland, language-related accessibility has never become as apparent to me as it has here. This has made me think about what I could personally do, as a threatre professional, to ensure the accessibility of the productions in which I’m involved. The thought of studying sign language now inspires me, having witnessed the opportunities it brings to theatre.

The connection to other people is crystallised in the context of performances. The theatre is a place where everyone should feel like they belong. This applies to both audiences and those putting the performances together. Sections six and seven of the theatre manifesto (2018) of Milo Rau, Artistic Director of NTGent, state that “at least two different languages should be spoken in every proeduction” and that “at least two performers should be non-professional actors.” These are a few suggestions on how language diversity can be increased through a playful approach, and how the various language barriers of the theatre could be more transparent.

Vilma Sippola

Vilma Sippola is a 23-year-old actor and performer who studies at the University of Tampere in the Degree Programme in Theatre Arts (NÄTY). Sippola’s previous work includes the television series MS Romantic and Pala Sydämestä and Ryhmäteatteri’s summer theatre. Sippola has written texts for performances as well as articles that have been published in the philosophical Minervan Pöllö magazine, for example.

This text was written as part of the cooperation between NÄTY and the Culture for All service in relation to the Making space for artistry project. The Degree Programme in Theatre Arts (NÄTY) is a community that provides higher education in acting and studies acting under the University of Tampere’s Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences.

www.tuni.fi/naty
www.tilaataiteilijuuteen.fi