Signing Shakespeare resources to be given to all UK deaf schools

Arranged by the Royal Shakespeare Company and the University of Birmingham, teaching resources designed to make Shakespeare accessible for deaf students are being send to every deaf school and significant deaf unit across the UK. 

The Signing Shakespeare project has been active since 2016, with the resources now including a complete scheme of work for teaching Macbeth, as well as filmed scenes from the play performed using British Sign Language by deaf actors, accompanied by relevant handouts. 

In a recent article in D&T, one of the creators of the resource told us that ‘A teacher can follow all the suggested exercises or pick and choose what they think would work best with their cohort of students.’

This resource has been distributed to 22 schools with donation support from Arden Shakespeare - an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing PLC. 

‘There are more than 50,000 deaf children in the UK and Shakespeare is the only named author that all children are required to study in the national curriculum,’ says deputy director and associate professor in Shakespeare and Theatre at the Shakespeare Institute, Abigail Rokinson-Woodall. ‘But the fact is that there aren’t many resources for deaf students studying Shakespeare in school.’

‘Such an integral part of the curriculum and our national cultural identity should be readily available for all students to study and enjoy. Signing Shakespeare is a step in the right direction.’