23 December Seren Chen and I audio described Wild Rice production of Alfian Sa’at’s SNOW WHITE & THE SEVEN DWARFS
We had a group of (coincidentally but very appriately) seven visually impaired members of the audience. Wild Rice continues to be a committed promoter of access and inclusion in Singapore theatre. We were joined in the lobby pre Touch Tour by the company’s founding Artistic Director, Ivan Heng (second from right in photo) and as he welcomed and recognised most of the group who regularly take the opportunity to attend an audio-described show, it is clear they have become a part of Wild rice’s extended family. Alfian’s take on the story is very much about acceptance: the so-called ‘dwarfs’ have been marginalised/demonised by a society that values conformity and posseses a singular and narrow vision of ‘beauty’.
This marks my fourth year as an audio-describer and it is heartening to see the gradual growth in numbers using the service (and at Singapore Repertory Theatre too) and to hear their enthusiastic feedback of how AD has helped to make theatre-going such an enjoyable part of their social entertainment.
Seren is organising a new training session for audio describers (under the auspices of SRT) in March 2024, and I hope to welcome more dedicated describers to the talent pool so that we can continue to provide this rewarding service.
