2022-24: Song in Sign | formidAbility

A close up of two people, Deaf actors Rhiannon May and Petre Dobre in the Glasgow performance of formidAbility’s ‘Song in Sign’. Rhiannon is in the foreground, in focus, her arms are outstretched and she is signing with her hands. Petre, who is out of focus and in the background behind Rhiannon, is also signing with his hands, mirroring Rhiannon, his facial expression neutral. Photo © Tommy Ga-Ken Wan, 2024.

Tenor Ben Thapa looks upwards, mouth open as he sings. His arms are gently outstretched at his sides. Next to him in line and in the background are Deaf actors Petre Dobre and Rhiannon May and soprano Joanne Roughton-Arnold. They all have their arms fully outstretched above and in front of their heads, reaching upwards. Pianist Nigel Foster is behind them, seated at a grand piano. They are performing formidAbility’s ‘Song in Sign’ in Glasgow. Photo © Tommy Ga-Ken Wan, 2024.

Soprano Joanne Roughton Arnold faces the camera, a look of strong surprise on her face. Her mouth is open and eyes are wide. Her arms are raised in front of her, her fingers spread in a physical expression of surprise. Next to her, with her back to the camera and partially out of shot, is Deaf actor Rhiannon May, who stretches her arms towards Joanne, looking like she is reaching for her. In the background and out of focus is Nigel Foster, seated at a black grand piano, focusing on the sheet music on his stand in front of him. The photo was taken at the Glasgow performance of formidAbility’s ‘Song in Sign’. Photo © Tommy Ga-Ken Wan, 2024.

A theatre space with wooden floors, wood panelling on the walls and ceilings. Approximately a dozen rows of audience members are sat in raked seating, watching the performance. On stage in front of them are five performers from formidAbility’s ‘Song in Sign’. At the front of the stage is Deaf actor Rhiannon May, kneeling on the floor, her head bowed, and her right hand extended on the floor in front of her. Stood behind her are tenor Ben Thapa, Deaf actor Petre Dobre and soprano Joanne Roughton-Arnold who watch Rhiannon intently. In the background we see Nigel Foster seated at a grand piano, concentrating on the music in front of him as he plays. Behind him are large silver organ pipes, set in wood and extended up towards the theatre ceiling. The photo was taken at the Glasgow performance of formidAbility’s ‘Song in Sign’. Photo © Tommy Ga-Ken Wan, 2024.

A line of seven people stand at the front of a stage, hands joined and raised triumphantly in the air. These are the artists from formidAbility’s ‘Song in Sign’ project, at the end of their performance in Glasgow. Left to right are: pianist Nigel Foster (in a bright red button-down shirt, black trousers and a blue striped blazer); tenor Ben Thapa (in a dark button-down shirt tucked into grey trousers with a colourful belt); soprano Joanne Roughton-Arnold (in a bright blue flowing top and black trousers); Deaf actors Rhiannon May (in a purple top and long-sleeved black jumpsuit) and Petre Dobre (in a blue button down shirt and black trousers); composer Rylan Gleave (in a long sleeved black top, dark turquoise jeans and black platform combat boots); and librettist Max Chase (in a long-sleeved black jumper, grey chequered trousers and brown trainers). Their facial expressions are joyful and triumphant as they look out towards the audience. They are standing in stage lighting on a wooden stage. Behind them is a large pipe organ, brick wall, and a track of stage lights glowing red and yellow. The photo was taken at the Glasgow performance of formidAbility’s ‘Song in Sign’. Photo © Tommy Ga-Ken Wan, 2024.

A student from Royal Conservatoire of Scotland participates in a formidAbility workshop. Photo © formidAbility, 2024

Deaf actor Rhiannon May leads a student workshop in a rehearsal room at Guildhall School of Music. She is standing next to a grand piano with her arms raised above her shoulders demonstrating to a group of students who stand in a semi circle around her. A few of the students are holding musical instruments. Photo © formidAbility, 2024

Pianist Nigel Foster is seated at a grand piano in a high-ceilinged room with his back to the camera. He is surrounded by students from the Royal Northern College of Music. They are looking at Deaf actor Rhiannon May, who also stands next to the piano and who is leading the workshop. Photo © formidAbility, 2024

In a theatre space at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, with wood floors and walls, two student participants play the oboe and piano while Deaf actor Rhiannon May observes them. Other participants and formidAbility artists are seated further back from the piano observing. Photo © formidAbility, 2024

Ben Thapa stands with his hands in front of his face as he sings passionately. Next to him is Deaf actor Petre Dobre in a similar pose, signing with his hands. Photo © Nina Photography, 2024

Joanne Roughton-Arnold converses and gesticulates with her hands in conversation with Caroline Parker, who stands next to her, also gesticulating with her hands. They are in rehearsal for formidAbility’s ‘Song in Sign’. Photo © Nina Photography, 2024

In a close-up photograph, facing towards the camera are two Deaf actors: Rhiannon May and Petre Dobre. Behind them is an out-of-focus white wall. Rhiannon stands in front of Petre, her eyes are closed and her mouth slightly open, her face expressive. Her arms are raised in front of her. Petre stands behind her, his arms also raised, gently enveloping Rhiannon. His face is similarly expressive. They are in rehearsal for formidAbility’s ‘Song in Sign’. Photo © Nina Photography, 2024

BSL Creative Consultant Daryl Jackson and Deaf actor Petre Dobre are rehearsing for formidAbility’s ‘Song in Sign’. Daryl looks and gesticulates towards Petre, who is standing in the background. Petre looks at Daryl intently, receiving direction from him. Photo © Nina Photography, 2024

In a large rehearsal room, soprano Joanne Roughton-Arnold and tenor Ben Thapa stand next to a piano. Joanne gesticulates with her hands and has a joyful expression while singing. Ben looks on at Joanne intently. Seated at the piano, with his back to the camera is Nigel Foster, whose hands are on the piano keyboard. In the background, we can see three other artists working together on movement and BSL. Photo © Nina Photography, 2024

A close up of four people standing in a line in a large room. All of them have their arms outstretched in a dynamic, movement-filled pose. On the far left is tenor Ben Thapa. He is focusing on one of his fellow artists, his expression engaging and inquisitive. Next to him is Deaf actor Petre Dobre, whose expression is slightly intense, his brow slightly furrowed in concentration. Next to him is Deaf actor Rhiannon May, her eyes downcast and her expression slightly melancholy. Next to her is soprano Joanne Roughton-Arnold whose expression is intent as she gazes up and sings. Photo © Nina Photography, 2024

In a light-filled room a group of about 15 people sit on chairs in a semi-circle. They are looking towards a projector screen with a drawing of a large fly on it and some text. Photo © formidAbility, 2024

Soprano Joanne Roughton-Arnold, with red hair and wearing a green jumper stands in the middle of a room. Her left arm is extended outwards as she co-leads a community workshop in Glasgow with Ruth Montgomery, standing to the right of the image. Seated in a semi-circle around her are about ten participants who are observing her. Seated next to Joanne is BSL interpreter Yvonne Strain, who is signing. Photo © formidAbility, 2024

Joanne Roughton-Arnold and Ruth Montgomery kneel on a wooden floor as they look downwards at a pile of multicoloured strips of paper. Photo © formidAbility, 2024

In a light-filled room, a group of about 15 people sit in chairs in a semi-circle. They are attending a community workshop in Glasgow for formidAbility’s ‘Song in Sign’ project. They speak to one another animatedly. Kneeling in front of the group is Joanne Roughton-Arnold. She looks at one of the participants and smiles. Behind her is a projector showing a large drawing of a fly with accompanying text. Photo © formidAbility, 2024

Stacey Ghent (hard of hearing actress and musician) smiling behind a music stand in rehearsal. Her blonde hair is pulled up into a bun; she is wearing black-rimmed spectacles and a white teeshirt.

Pianist Nico de Villiers smiling to someone over his right shoulder while he plays. He has dark hair, black spectacles and wears a long sleeved white shirt. There is an iPad on the piano music stand. Photo courtesy Helen Murray.

Singer Joanne Roughton-Arnold stands behind a music stand in rehearsal, smiling. She has long red, curly hair and wears a pink jumpsuit. Photo courtesy Helen Murray.

Early in 2024, formidAbility brought the premiere performances of ‘Song in Sign’ to four venues across the UK. Featuring two opera singers, a pianist and two signing actors joining forces to create a feast for the senses in a joyous merging of Song and Sign, the UK tour included the world premiere of "The Happy Prince" by Rylan Geave and Max Chase (commissioned by formidAbility in 2022). The project included concert performances, and student and community workshops.

Concert Performances and Livestream

Performance photos (2024), courtesy of Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.

Rehearsal photos (2024), courtesy of Nina Photography.

Workshop photos (2024), courtesy of formidAbility.

Photos from the R&D sessions (2022), courtesy of Helen Murray.

London: 23rd January 2024 at 7:30pm

Guildhall School of Music and Drama

Birmingham: 30th January 2024 at 7:00pm

Royal Birmingham Conservatoire

Manchester: 2nd February 2024 at 7:30pm

Royal Northern College of Music

Glasgow: 1st March 2024 at 1:00pm

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

Our staged concerts were BSL interpreted, audio described and captioned throughout. The performance at Royal Northern College of Music was livestreamed and can be viewed in the video below.

Student Workshops

We were excited to share our creative approach to accessibility with conservatoire students, exploring how they might have a positive impact on colleagues and audiences as they move into the profession and create their own projects.

Our workshops included:

identifying and removing barriers so that everyone is free to do their best creative work.

imaginative ways to make creative work that is accessible for audiences and participants

the importance of evaluating our work and gathering feedback for reporting to funders on how their investment has been spent and the impact it is having on others

Community Workshops

formidAbility offered creative community workshops in each touring city, crafted by Ruth Montgomery and delivered in collaboration with Joanne Roughton-Arnold.

The project brought bespoke workshops for groups active in the Deaf and disabled community, who wished to engage in music activity in their local area. Between them, Ruth and Joanne have extensive experience working with Deaf and sight impaired people in educational and engagement settings.

The aim of the sessions was to unlock and develop participants' creative engagement with music, igniting interest and providing an invitation for participants to see the work in an accessible format enriched by the performances of Deaf actors and live captioning.

Workshops took place on:

Saturday 13th January, in London from 2pm - 4pm.

Saturday 27th January in Birmingham from 2pm - 4pm.

Friday 31st January in Manchester from 6pm - 8pm.

Saturday 24th February in Glasgow from 2pm - 4pm.

Further Information on Song in Sign performances and workshops can be found in the BSL videos below:

Although our first tour of concerts and workshops are now over, we are planning the future life of Song in Sign. If you would like to join our mailing list to be among the first to hear about future performances and workshops, please click here.

We gratefully acknowledge support from

Concert Performances and Livestream

Student Workshops

Community Workshops

Although our first tour of concerts and workshops are now over, we are planning the future life of Song in Sign. If you would like to join our mailing list to be among the first to hear about future performances and workshops, please click here.

We gratefully acknowledge support from

and the

Webb Family Charitable Trust

get in touch

useful links

LEGAL

Concert Performances and Livestream

Student Workshops

Community Workshops

Although our first tour of concerts and workshops are now over, we are planning the future life of Song in Sign. If you would like to join our mailing list to be among the first to hear about future performances and workshops, please click here.

We gratefully acknowledge support from

and the Webb Family Charitable Trust

get in touch

useful links

LEGAL

and the

Webb Family Charitable Trust