1.

Report of the

First National Audio Description Conference

organised by the Royal National Institute for the Blind and AUDEST (Audio Description Training for Theatres)

Nottingham Playhouse Wednesday 19 March 1997

Audio Description Association Archive Series No. 1

‘Purveyors of Happiness’

Report of the First National Audio Description Conference Nottingham Playhouse, 1997

Archive Series No. 1

published online by the

Audio Description Association

2015

© Audio Description Association, 2015

www.audiodescription.co.uk

Print copies are available on demand for the cost of production and delivery

Contact

[email protected] Report of the 1st National Audio Description Conference, Nottingham, 1997 1

Foreword

The 1997 Nottingham Conference was held almost a decade after the first audio described performance in a mainstream British theatre: Stepping Out at Theatre Royal Windsor on 6 February 1988. The conference was a milestone in the development of audio description in the UK and, as audio description passes its quarter century, it seems a fitting moment to reproduce the report of the proceedings which was approved for publication by RNIB but never printed.

The conference resolution called for a national organisation of describers which would work with other professional bodies and visually impaired users, and RNIB undertook to set up a steering group which would carry out a survey of audio describers in the UK to determine their needs and views; develop a blueprint for a national association based on the findings of the survey; and organise a founding conference at which the blueprint would be presented.

The second national conference on audio description, which took place at the Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon on 30 April 1999, was also the founding conference of the new organisation. Conference delegates voted to change its name from Audio Describers Association, chosen by the steering group to match the intention of the Nottingham resolution, to Audio Description Association, reflecting RNIB’s subsequent shift towards the broader concept of a national organisation with audio describers, theatre managers and visually impaired people as fellow members.

The following report of the discussions which led up to the conference resolution is based on a transcript of the recording of the conference proceedings made by RNIB. It highlights the main issues and examples of good practice in theatres which emerged during the day, and illustrates them with excerpts from platform speeches, workshop reports and comments from the floor. Reading the report certainly bears out the old saying that you need to look back occasionally to see how far you have come – many of the topics debated at Nottingham and the views expressed in 1997 are still current, while the examples of good practice remain as relevant as ever.

Much has changed, of course, in the post-Nottingham years. Possibly the most striking difference is the technology involved, a subject scarcely touched on at the conference. For theatregoers, listening conditions are steadily improving as

Report of the 1st National Audio Description Conference, Nottingham, 1997 2

modern radio equipment eliminates the problems inherent in the infrared systems popular in the 1990s. For audio describers, advances in information technology have had a dramatic impact on the way they work. The photocopied and handwritten describer’s script is fast becoming a relic of the past. Play scripts arrive as Word documents for the describer’s script to be typed up on screen, and delivered live from printout, laptop or tablet. DVD recordings of the show for use in script preparation are now the norm. If the run is long enough, the describers’ introduction to the audio described performance is written and recorded for advance distribution on CD, by email, or via the venue’s website.

The status of describers, at a time when approximately 97% of the UK’s theatre describers were volunteers, was hotly debated, with both describers and service users divided on the payment versus non-payment issue. Progress towards ‘professionalisation’, meaning payment, was described as inevitable, and this has proved to be the case. Many more theatre describers now work freelance, though few rely entirely on audio description for their livelihood: for most, it is part of a wider employment portfolio. Interestingly, the influx of freelance describers appears to have had little effect on the gender balance of the workforce in general, which remains predominantly female.

‘Professional’ implies more than payment, however, as delegates were quick to point out. Other hallmarks of the professional include qualification and conduct. The volunteer workforce of 1997 included describers from a range of professional backgrounds who brought the same approach to audio description that they applied to their professional jobs – a situation which is still true today. But deep concern was expressed about the variation in the standard of audio description across the country, leading to a call for a nationally recognised standard and an accredited training programme to support it.

Training was therefore high on the agenda of the newly-formed Audio Description Association; the RNIB-backed prototype course known as ‘the Audest Model’ was redesigned to comply with current vocational training requirements, and accredited by the West Yorkshire Region Open College Network (now Certa) in May 2000. The course, which is available to all describers working in professional theatre paid or unpaid, leads to the Certificate in Audio Description Skills which is the UK’s nationally recognised qualification in this field. A parallel course for film and television describers has also been developed.

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Endorsement of audio description as a profession has also come in a form undreamed of in 1997. In July 2011, Equity, the trade union for the UK’s entertainment industry, effectively recognised audio describers as creative practitioners, thereby entitling paid describers to membership of the union in their own right, rather than as actors or other theatre professionals with audio description as one of their ancillary skills.

But perhaps the most encouraging development in the post-Conference years has been the positive growth in the climate of awareness surrounding audio description, and the increased degree of support for describers and service users at managerial and operational level. Among the factors that have contributed directly or indirectly to audio description’s raised profile are equality legislation, public funding, and promotional activity of various kinds. Although the 1997 Conference was only concerned with theatre, advances in other areas – notably television – have had a significant impact on public awareness and expectations of audio description in general.

Looking back to see how far you have come invariably leads to looking forward to see how far you have still to go – which suggests a theme for a third national conference, possibly in 2017, twenty years after Nottingham and an appropriate time to reassess the status of audio description in the UK and formulate another ‘agenda for the future’.

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Mary Plackett, Editor Audio Description Association, 2013

Notes:

‘Visually impaired’ is used as a general term throughout the report, reflecting its use in the conference title. Other terms current at the time, such as ‘programme notes’, have also been retained.

RNIB is now the Royal National Institute of Blind People. AUDEST (an RNIB initiative) was disbanded when the Audio Description Association took over its training role.

Report of the 1st National Audio Description Conference, Nottingham, 1997 4

Contents Page

Conference Report

1. Introducing the Conference 5

2. Marketing Audio Description 7

3. Caring for Customers 9

4. Involving Consumers 11

5. Funding Audio Description 12

6. Developing Audio Description Standards 14

7. Boosting the Status of Describers 17

8. ‘Into a new Era’ 19

Conference Programme 21

List of Delegates 24

Introduction to the audio described 28 performance of ‘The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband’ at Nottingham Playhouse, 19 March 1997

Report of the 1st National Audio Description Conference, Nottingham, 1997 5

Conference Report

1. Introducing the Conference

Welcoming delegates to the conference, Ruth McKenzie, Executive Director of Nottingham Playhouse, set the tone for the day with an upbeat declaration of consumer rights:

● We have a very simple philosophy here at Nottingham Playhouse, which is that every single person in the community pays for this Playhouse one way or another, through their community charge or through their taxes, and we feel every single person in the community should have access to all the work we do. Indeed, that is their right.

RNIB Arts Officer, Marcus Weisen, who chaired the proceedings, began by setting audio description in its historical context. He quoted an item from the first issue of RNIB’s magazine The Beacon, published in January 1917, reporting a visit by visually impaired war veterans to a film show, which was enhanced by “Lady Waterlow’s happy way of creating mental pictures by flashes of suggestive description interjected at appropriate moments”.

Much like audio description in the theatre as we know it, he added, but now with some significant differences:

● One is the enabling technology, however problematic it may be; two, we have a skilful commentary that may take 40 hours or more to prepare; and three, it is aimed at giving independence to visually impaired audiences. Whenever we want to set up a service and monitor or measure its quality, that has to be at centre place.

His account of the current status of British audio description was encouraging:

● It is provided by nearly 40 theatres in the UK, there are about three in France, one in Sweden, one in Japan, 40 or 60 in the US. In sheer quantitative terms, the UK has become the leader. As far as I can judge, in qualitative terms – around management, user involvement and description – the UK does have a leading edge on a number of issues.

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But, as he warned delegates:

● Audio description is and always has been fraught with problems and challenges. Many of them nitty gritty management ones, others philosophical ones about the values and aims underlying audio description, and also, as audio description consolidates after ten years’ presence in this country, questions of standard become much more prominent.

The conference’s remit, he concluded, was to identify good practice over the past ten years, issues and possible solutions to them, and arising from all this, an agenda for the future.

The value of audio description was endorsed by keynote speaker Peter Barker, Manager of the RNIB/GDBA Mobility Unit, who described the theatre personnel, audio describers and representatives of funding organisations in the audience as having one thing in common: they were all purveyors of happiness.

As he pointed out, it was not only the visually impaired theatregoer who benefitted from audio description:

● When I go to the theatre my wife has a decision to take: does she whisper in my ear every few minutes describing what is happening – with the risk of not enjoying the performance herself or upsetting other people – or does she sit quiet and tell me about it in the interval. If the performance is audio described, Jenny will enjoy it just as much as I will, and she can relax.

His comments were reinforced later in the day by another visually impaired speaker, RNIB Communication Officer Richard Lane:

● As someone who only became blind five years ago, like a lot of pastimes, I thought that theatre going would be beyond me, but I was proved wrong, and certainly my connections with the Audio Description Service have been great fun. So, from the consumer’s point of view, I applaud everyone who is involved in audio description.

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2. Marketing Audio Description

Peter Barker’s keynote speech set the marketing agenda for the future:

● We must meet the demand from audiences to have the service. We must put in the equipment and train the describers, who are probably the most important people in the whole situation. We must look at the theatre environment to make sure it is user friendly. We must get the publicity right and the staff training right, and there was a wealth of supporting ideas and recommendations from the workshops which followed, many of them based on existing practice.

How theatres contacted their potential audiences was the starting-point for discussion, with the emphasis on the need to know where your market is, get out and actually meet them. Contacting local organisations for visually impaired people was strongly recommended and attention was drawn to the fact that some of the national organisations such as RNIB and the National Federation for the Blind had a regional presence. Examples were quoted of theatre staff in Manchester going out to meet local consumers, and a visually impaired theatre goer in Coventry visiting clubs for visually impaired people, rotary clubs and similar groups, to promote audio description and fundraise. It was accepted however, that London theatres with their ‘passing trade’, were in a different position from regional venues with a regular clientele.

Delegates stressed the need to target the non-visually impaired population too:

● We thought that obviously talking newspapers and specialist publications are useful channels but it is also vital to speak to people directly. We felt it was still an issue that a huge number of people haven’t a clue what audio description is or how it works. Everybody has friends or grannies who are visually impaired. They themselves may become visually impaired in the future – so target everybody, not just visually impaired people.

This developed into a discussion of the type of information theatres should provide:

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● They need to give everything that’s available to sighted people, so not just information about described performances but information about everything that’s coming up in the season. We also felt that it was important to know about the theatre, so provide information about access, information about parking facilities, information about whether or not you can order a drink a drink in the interval, where the toilets are, where the booking office is – all vital if people are to feel enabled to come to the theatre.

Choice of format for direct marketing material was one of the items in the RNIB/AUDEST marketing survey of the 36 theatres currently offering audio description, carried out in 1996. In his preview of the survey results, to be published in Summer 1997, Richard Lane reported that Braille was offered by approximately 13 of the 24 theatres that responded, large print was provided by about 16 theatres, and taped information by about 18 theatres.

Tape is clearly the most versatile format, though visually impaired delegates pointed out that the quality of the tape recordings was an important factor. In addition to marketing information, some theatres – the Royal National Theatre, for example – are now putting their programme notes on tape for advance distribution. Perth Theatre’s inclusion of a message from its artistic director, similar to the message in its standard literature, was also cited as an example of good practice.

There was a strong emphasis on developing a user friendly approach:

● Make your theatre friendly, get visually impaired people into the theatre and have it described to them, or let them find out for themselves where the steps are, let them meet the actors, let them get on the stage, let them have a good feel round and familiarise themselves.

A number of theatres offer touch tours of the stage, with the opportunity to explore the set and feel the props and costumes. The Belgrade Theatre in Coventry has taken this a step further with stage picnics for visually impaired children. A total of 120 children had attended its 12 audio described pantomime performances, 8 of which had involved picnics.

Sensitive scheduling of audio described performances was also advised:

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● Make sure that what you are providing is on a fairly regular basis … older people prefer to go out in the afternoons … whatever the preference is, meet it if you can.

3. Caring for customers

The workshops on customer care and venue accessibility produced a similar raft of practical recommendations and examples. Peter Barker paved the way for discussion in his keynote speech:

● To get full enjoyment from a visit to a theatre one needs to be able to move around the environment comfortably and safely, and with a significant degree of independence. That means looking critically at the building and at one or two aspects … not the aesthetics but those which assist the use of the building.

It was accepted that theatres had got to work with buildings they’d got, which might be old, listed, and not easy to adapt – but a number of relatively simple improvements could be made. Among the design features mentioned were:

● Nosing on stairs and good handrails,

● Adequate tone and colour contrast,

● Adequate lighting,

● Good signage, including tactile signs (visually impaired speakers were eloquent on the subject of tactile signs on cloakroom doors),

● Tactile plans of the foyer and seating arrangements.

Peter Barker called for consumer involvement at the planning stage:

● Make sure the right people are on the committees…including some of the visually impaired people who are going to be the recipients of all this work, to make sure that what is done is what is actually needed, as opposed to what was perhaps thought to be needed at the beginning and subsequently go modified by the architects for this, that or the other reason.

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Delegates also considered health and safety aspects. There was concern that fire regulations might lead theatres to insist that visually impaired patrons were accompanied by a sighted person, in which case they felt that guide should be admitted free; alternatively, theatres could leave the decision not to bring a guide to the visually impaired person, on the understanding that it was at his or her own risk. Prevention was better than cure, however, and the real answer was to have a decent fire warning system which made it feasible to evacuate everyone including people who were in wheelchairs or visually impaired, before the fire took hold.

Discussions extended to the external environment. The implications of transport were mentioned, not only the provision of adequate disabled parking at the theatre for those who had their own transport, but also organised transport to and from the theatre for those who did not. Local organisations often take the lead here: the theatre club run by Nottinghamshire Royal Society for the Blind was cited as an outstanding initiative which fostered the shared experience of theatre going as well as providing practical help with booking and transport.

Marcus Weisen asked Arts Council representative Andrew Holdsworth-Wild whether transport schemes or theatre clubs would be eligible for funding under the new Arts for Everyone scheme. The answer was yes, possibly, if the application came from a body set up for that purpose.

Other examples of customer care included accommodation for guide dogs in the aisles alongside their owners or in guide dog crèches. Theatr Clywd provides a room for visually impaired patrons to socialize and relax before and after the performance.

Great importance was attached to staff training:

● It is very important that people are comfortable when they come to the theatre and comfortable with the people they meet.

● We feel training should be done for all staff, not just front of house staff. It’s important that staff as a whole appreciate the needs of the visually impaired.

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Training was considered especially important for front of house staff responsible for escorting patrons to their seats and making sure they were happy with their headsets, and for booking office staff dealing with ticket enquiries. An information spot in the foyer was suggested where people can ask for assistance but not feel the spot is there for them because they have a disability. It should be a general information spot with staff trained to deal with people with disabilities.

4. Involving Consumers

It was agreed that whatever the involvement of consumers in service design, it should be real and not tokenistic. The area of involvement that attracted most discussion, and was a constantly recurring topic in the workshops, was audience feedback – when to do it and how to do it. Delegates felt that consumer feedback should be regular and post-performance feedback should be delayed for a few days - as one delegate put it:

● It can be a bit daunting if house managers and describers and whoever jumps on you after a performance and says what did you think of that, was it good enough and was the headset working.

Feedback could be obtained by a post-performance questionnaire or a phone call – Richard Lane had already advocated phoning as the easiest method of communication for visually impaired people – or, as the Belgrade Theatre does, by asking patrons to record and return their feedback on the tape containing the programme notes sent to them pre-performance.

It was recognised that visually impaired people were not a homogenous group:

● The audience who come in on one night will have varying views as to whether they thought it was good, bad or indifferent … if you just ask a small group of people what they thought, it may not reflect the larger audience.

Theatres were recommended to avoid the risk of bias by selecting different individuals to target for feedback after each performance, and the possibility of employing a wider-ranging, more scientifically-constructed marketing model was mooted.

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Pre-performance input was also covered, and the Royal National Theatre’s model was described. The RNT has a dry run of the audio description for invited VIPs early in rehearsal, their comments are fed into the description, and once the production is up and running, invited VIPs give the first feedback on the polished description. It was acknowledged, however, that this model would not suit all theatres, because of the timescale and resources required.

The work of the Belgrade Theatre’s access group in giving consumers hands on involvement in the production was referred to several times, and led to speculation about the creative use of audio description:

● Should audio description be perceived as simply filling a gap, or should it take a more active role … should the production be modified if one is using audio description … is there any sense in looking not just at the description, but saying well, if we actually modify the script we can minimise the amount of description necessary, and what reaction to this approach might one get from directors and script writers …?

The general consensus was that the need for consumer feedback, whenever or however it was obtained, was well recognised and could only lead to the development of better services. There was still a need, however, for greater involvement of VIPs in training describers, and involvement from an earlier stage in their training.

Describers, for their part, felt that VIPs were often far too kind to them. They would welcome the type of constructive criticism which got down to the nitty gritty and dealt with what was wrong about the description as well as what was good about it.

5. Funding Audio Description

The acceleration in the growth of audio description in the last two to three years is due to two external factors: the influx of cash from the National Lottery boosting arts funding policies, and the 1995 Disability Discrimination Act. Their inter-relationship was discussed by Andrew Holdsworth-Wild, the Arts Council Lottery Officer responsible for co-ordinating and advising on disability and access issues.

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● We expect organisations applying for Lottery funds to have gained some knowledge of the Act…. It is in effect a condition of a grant that disabled access is provided, and in many cases we will add additional conditions such as ensuring that an access audit has been carried out, that consultations take place with relevant disabled people and organizations, and that disability awareness training is undertaken.

The Arts Council has been well to the fore in the formulation of policy relating to access of disabled people to the arts. Its Lottery Department is equally committed to disability access, witness the Department’s mission statement:

● We hope to promote excellence, the improvement of standards, the equality of opportunity, and to ensure the essential integration of facilities for people with disabilities. Therefore every grant should benefit disabled people. and its development policy, which has included making lottery packs available in various formats including braille, large print, tape and video:

● We are committed to development and we have recently hosted with the National Arts Disability Forum two annual seminars which we hope will become a regular event…. We continue to update the application process and identify weaknesses in project proposals and last year we introduced an access check list, which is now providing invaluable information on people’s ideas and attitudes towards access to their venues. We hope that the unique opportunity that Lottery funding is giving the arts will enable many venues and organisations to demonstrate a comprehensive approach to disability in its widest sense.

Andrew Holdsworth-Wild also referred to an Arts Council initiative with direct relevance to audio description. As part of its Dance Department’s disability plan for promoting maximum access in all venues receiving Arts Council funding, the Department was about to embark on a joint project with AUDEST to develop guidelines for describing dance and train a number of describers in this field.

His comprehensive account of Arts Council policy and practice in relation to disability and access included details of two relevant Lottery funding programmes: the Capital Scheme and the recently introduced Arts for Everyone

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Scheme. Further information about these schemes was available on the Arts Council website.

6. Developing Audio Description Standards

The debate on standards was prefaced by a discussion of the aims and techniques of audio description. While it was agreed that:

● The service should be professional in its approach and standards, with descriptions having their own artistic integrity and reflecting the style of the production, delegates also felt it was important to reflect the wishes of consumers in the way the description was presented. Naming describers at the outset is a relatively minor detail, but as one workshop reporter noted, it contributes to the user friendliness of the description:

● In the interests of making it a more friendly and personal experience, it was felt that naming describers was desirable, as VIPs tend to want to have an impression that an individual is actually sharing what is happening.

Similarly, consumers thought the describer’s intonation should convey a genuine interest in what was being described. A vocal style that was too detached could detract from the listener’s enjoyment.

Content was discussed as well as style: what to include in the description, whether information about sets and costumes was as important to the listener as information about movement and facial expression, and how to maintain the difficult balance between describing and interpreting what was happening on stage. A team approach to preparing descriptions and regular access to audience feedback were both regarded as indispensable if a high standard of description was to be maintained.

The process of developing and maintaining standards begins at the recruitment stage. Various methods of recruiting describers were suggested: via the media, open days, theatre clubs or Friends’ organisations, as well as word of mouth. There was general agreement that some form of audition was needed to screen

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out less suitable candidates, also that it would be helpful to formulate a job description which would define the describer’s role and by implication the personal attributes and skills required.

Basic training for describers was considered essential. The document on standards circulated by AUDEST prior to the workshops outlined a recommended progression from a three-day initial training course to on-the-job coaching with the benefit of consumer feedback, leading to evaluation, and in due course to advanced training and specialist training – dance and children’s theatre being two possibilities.

In house evaluation of describers was also considered to be absolutely essential:

● It was felt this was best coming from people familiar with what audio description involves, there should be some mechanism for evaluation, and it should be an ongoing process.

Two approaches were mentioned, involving either peers or visually impaired theatre goers as evaluators. The LADS model of evaluation which is based on peer assessment, as distinct from service evaluation based on consumer assessment, was quoted; and there was a suggestion that a national panel of visually impaired people should be set up, whose members would be available to carry out an audit of all aspects of theatre access, including the actual description.

Involving members of the production team was ruled out:

● It was not felt desirable to have the director involved in the evaluation of describers, because he would be approaching it from a different stance, and the describers are conveying the audience experience rather than that of the people involved in the actual production.

At the same time, delegates stressed the importance of all theatre personnel, production team and actors included, to know about audio description, what it entailed and when it was taking place. The need for audio description to be a fully integrated part of theatre output and not simply an optional extra was a theme which recurred throughout the day – although it was acknowledged that

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it can be difficult to break into large organisations and get them to shift their work patterns to accommodate audio description.

The fragmented growth of audio description in the UK means that many describers work in isolation; new groups often feel unsupported, and describers in general are aware that opportunities for cross-fertilisation are lacking and standards may suffer inconsequence. A national standard was seen as one way of promoting consistency between theatres, and of reassuring theatre managers that they were both giving and getting a quality product.

To achieve this common level of skill, a national qualification for describers was proposed, backed up by a national association which would not only provide a mechanism for networking but also act as the guardian of the national standard.

Although the need for some form of accreditation was undisputed, there was uncertainty about the route to take. AUDEST member Diana Luther referred to her long and convoluted conversations with the Arts and Education Training Council about placing the AUDEST training package in the current NVQ framework; she warned delegates that it was not as easy as it might appear, and would require a lot of lobbying. Ruth McKenzie, picking up on Marcus Weisen’s comment that practice precedes the norm, suggested that:

● rather than trying to fit into someone else’s model, could not AUDEST set up its own certificate and way of accrediting … or if audio describers set up a professional body, one part of its role could be to become an accrediting body. Once you had a certificate to hand out, the AETC might be more inclined to listen.

Examples of self-accrediting models put forward by delegates included the sign language training agency CACDP, which had developed a training structure and qualification for sign language interpreters (but was phasing it out in favour of NVQs – Editor’s note), and the Arts Marketing Association which was working in collaboration with the Chartered Institute of Marketing to set up its own formal accreditation system.

There was a note of caution from one workshop about adopting an over-heavy approach. A delegate pointed out that:

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● In cases where a theatre is beginning describing or showing an interest in it, it’s probably better for them to have a go rather than not bother at all. So, on the one hand, we want to maintain standards but we also want to find a way of encouraging people who are starting out and pointing them in the right direction, or, as a speaker from the floor put it:

● Don’t set up such a structure that the accreditation tail starts to wag the dog of reality.

7. Boosting the Status of Describers

The status of describers was the most hotly debated topic of the day – a debate which one workshop reporter described as having a slightly chicken and egg feel to it. For example:

● Do you boost the standard of description by paying your describers and therefore ensuring good practice because they are offering a professional service for which they can be hired and fired, or do you need the standards in place first?

The word ‘professional’ was used repeatedly in discussions relating to describers and was itself the subject of debate: did it imply qualification or did it mean payment? Despite the emphasis on skills:

● What we’re looking for is someone who can do the job. The fact that they’re voluntary or paid is a secondary issue, it’s the professionalism that’s important, the discussion of describers’ status crystalised around the thorny issue of payment. As one of the workshop reporters put it:

● We would like to see a move in the future in the direction of professionalism, and we suspect that one would need to be looking toward the paid element of the job.

Describers themselves are divided on the issue. The volunteer tradition is strong among those to whom audio description is a leisure activity which benefits others

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rather than an opportunity for paid employment. Its positive effects are evident at Chichester, for example, where the ability to draw on a large retired population for volunteers enables the theatre to offer an impressively high number of audio described performances, and constant practice has a beneficial effect on description standards.

Other describers regard payment as a means of putting them on the same footing as other theatre personnel, and facilitating the integration of audio description into the theatre’s overall structure. It is also seen as due recognition of the commitment, in terms of training and preparation time, that describers bring to the job; and, as stated earlier, it is the ultimate guarantee of standards since describers, like other employers can be hired and fired on the basis of their ability to do the job.

Payment for describers may also be viewed as an indication of the theatre’s commitment to access for visually impaired patrons; there was a reference to parallel provision for deaf consumers:

● Sign language interpreters are currently paid, so the existing situation suggests that provision for visually impaired people is less important than that for people with hearing impairments.

The response from visually impaired delegates was equally varied. Some would welcome payment for describers as an indication that theatres took their access needs seriously. Just as payment would place describers on the same footing as other theatre staff, it would place visually impaired people on the same footing as other theatre goers – no longer objects of charity but with the same right as other consumers to complain about inferior service.

Speaking from the floor, Monique Raffray, whose pioneering work with RNIB contributed to the spread of audio description, deplored the implication that volunteer describers lacked the respect given to paid describers, and reminded delegates that without the tremendous contribution of volunteer describers, audio description would not have achieved its present status.

Progress towards ‘professionalisation’ was seen as inevitable, and in making the point that practice precedes the norm, Marcus Weisen listed the theatres which

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currently pay their describers: Bolton Octagon, the Royal National Theatre, and more recently, the six regional theatres and three national touring companies involved in the Setting the Scene project. However, as Anne Hornsby from Bolton, another pioneer, pointed out, she could command only half the rate that a sign language interpreter was paid.

The conclusion reached by all the workshops was that a national association was urgently needed, which could:

● act as a forum for discussion of issues such as accreditation and payment,

● promote networking and skill sharing by producing a newsletter and training materials,

● operate as an information bank by maintaining a national register of describers and theatres offering audio description, plus a central list of performances which would act as an anti-clash diary,

● become a channel for practical cooperation between describers, which would have implications for touring productions – the ability to share scripts etc would mean that describers at each venue would no longer have to reinvent the wheel in four days,

● adopt a PR role and raise the profile of audio description through publications, the media, exhibitions etc – it was suggested that the launch of the new association could coincide with a new marketing image for audio description, possibly involving a change of logo.

8. ‘Into a New Era’

In his summary of the afternoon’s discussion, Marcus Weisen identified:

● an emphasis on the importance of standards as reflected in the recruitment, training and evaluation process,

● a recognition that accreditation was crucial to the status of audio description,

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● an insistence on the need for a high standard of managed relationship within the theatre,

● a majority view in favour of a paid structure,

● a call for the formation of a national association to address these issues.

Responding to a suggestion from the floor by Diana Toeman of the London Audio Description Service, he asked for a show of hands in support of a proposal that:

● The conference organisers should approach the Arts Council for funding to set up a national organisation of describers which would work with other professional bodies and visually impaired users.

Support was overwhelming, with no votes against the proposal and only the Arts Council representatives officially abstaining. He went on to outline a plan of action, adding that RNIB could provide funding in the region of £2500 which would ensure a prompt start.

RNIB would set up an 8-member steering group, composed mainly of describers with representatives of users and theatre professionals, from different parts of the country. The group would have an investigative brief and its findings would be disseminated at a second national conference, which would broaden the discussion and be the base from which a representative organisation could grow.

With this positive outcome, he concluded, we were about to take our first steps into the new era of audio description.

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Conference Programme

9.30-10.00 Registration and coffee

10.00-10.10 Welcome Ruth McKenzie, Executive Director. Nottingham Playhouse (followed by the introduction to the audio described performance of the Playhouse’s current production of The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband read by Jane Parish)

10.10-10.20 Audio description, good practice today and tomorrow Marcus Weisen, Arts Officer, Royal National Institute for the Blind

10.20-10.35 Access to arts premises and the ADAPT/GDBA Sightline Fund Peter Barker, Manager, Joint RNIB/GDBA Mobility Unit

10.45-11.15 WORKSHOP 1 1A: Consumer information provision Group 1 – Chair: Robert Pickles Rapporteur: Peter Westwood Group 2 – Chair: Maryse Jeffrey Rapporteur: Louise Fryer

1B: Recruitment and management of describers Group 1 – Chair: Diana Luther Rapporteur: Eric Sayce Group 2 – Chair: Diane Long Rapporteur: Ian Fell

1C: Aims and techniques of audio description Group 1 – Chair: Pat Collcutt Rapporteur: Andrew Holland Group 2 – Chair: Mary Plackett Rapporteur: Celia Hill

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11.30-12.00 WORKSHOP 2 2A: Marketing techniques Group 1 – Chair: Robert Pickles Rapporteur: Peter Westwood Group 2 – Chair: Maryse Jeffrey Rapporteur: Louise Fryer

2B: Customer care and venue accessibility Group 1 – Chair: Diane Luther Rapporteur: Eric Sayce Group 2 – Chair: Diane Long Rapporteur: Ian Fell

2C: Audio description standards Group 1 – Chair: Pat Collcutt Rapporteur: Andrew Holland Group 2 – Chair: Mary Plackett Rapporteur: Celia Hill

12.15-12.45 Reporting Back

12.45-1.45 LUNCH

1.45-2.00 Committing Funding to Access Andrew Holdsworth-Wild, Lottery Officer (Access and Disability), Arts Council of England

2.00-2.15 Meeting the Needs of Visually Impaired Audiences, the RNIB/AUDEST Survey Richard Lane, Communications officer, RNIB

2.30-3.00 WORKSHOP 3 3A: The new Disability Discrimination Act: challenge and opportunity Speaker: Jan Nesbitt Chair/Rapporteur: Robert Pickles

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3B: User involvement in service design Group 1 – Chair: Diana Luther Rapporteur: Liam O’Carroll Group 2 – Chair: Raina Haig Rapporteur: Ian Fell

3C: Boosting the Status of Describers Group 1 – Chair: Pat Collcutt Rapporteur: Andrew Holland Group 2 – Chair: Mary Plackett Rapporteur: Celia Hill

3.15-4.15 Reporting Back, Discussion

4.25-4.30 Summary and Evaluation

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List of Delegates (as circulated)

Lorna Anderson, Administrative Director, Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich Peter Barker, Manager, RNIB/GDBA Mobility Unit (Speaker) Helen Bartle. Marketing Assistant, Oxford Playhouse Sarah Bedell, Marketing Officer, Royal Shakespeare Company, London Caroline Brophy, Front of House Manager, Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh Fiona Burn, House Manager, Nuffield Theatre, Southampton Liz Callister, Manager, Dorset County Association for the Blind Jackie Carter, Front of House Manager, Theatre Royal, Plymouth Mei Chapman, Executive Assistant, Method and Madness Jean Chennell, Royal Leics Society for the Blind Frances Clark, Audio Describer, Edinburgh Group Pat Collcutt, Audio Describer, Royal Shakespeare Company Hannah Jane Cook, Audio Describer, Nottingham Playhouse Clemmie Cowl, Arts Council of England (Observer) Rose Cuthbertson, Administrative Director, Theatre Royal and Opera House, Wakefield Maureen Dalton, Development Officer, Citizens Theatre, Glasgow Mark Davies, Front of House Manager, Bradford Theatres Josephine Davy, Audio Describer, West Yorkshire Playhouse Stuart Dixon, Assistant to Theatre Manager, Pitlochry Theatre Maureen Dow, Audio Describer, Theatre Royal, York Henrietta Duckworth, Press and Marketing, Theatre de Complicite Marc Evans, House Manager, Shaftsbury Theatre, London Ian Fell, Chair, RNIB Holidays and Leisure Sub-Committee Monica Ferguson, Marketing Manager, Derngate Theatre, Northampton Tim Flude, Audio Describer, Belgrade Theatre, Coventry David Freeman, Publicity and Front of House Assistant, Perth Theatre Louise Fryer, Audio Describer, Royal National Theatre and member of AUDEST Steering Committee Lesley Gash, Technical Manager, Castle Theatre, Wellingborough Susan Gibson, Theatregoer (Scotland) Sunethra Goonewardene, Theatregoer (London) Jacqueline Green, Theatre Manager, Shaftsbury Theatre, London Martin Green, Marketing and Sales Manager, Sherman Theatre, Cardiff

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Sally Greenwood, Audio Describer, Derby Playhouse Julia Grundy, Audio Describer, Royal Shakespeare Company Raina Haig, Film maker Sandra Hanafin, Senior Information Officer, Action for Blind People Ros Hayes. House Manager, Royal National Theatre Rebecca Hazzard, Outreach Officer, Wimbledon Theatre Carol Healas, Education Assistant, Birmingham Repertory Theatre Sue Hibbert, Marketing Assistant, Blackpool Grand Theatre Celia Hill, Audio Describer, London Audio Description Service Doreen Hill, Chief Executive, Notts Royal Society for the Blind Carol Hobley, Special Projects Manager, Theatre Museum Andrew Holdsworth-Wild, Lottery officer (Access and Disability), Arts Council of England (Speaker) Andy Holland, Audio Describer, Royal National Theatre Anne Hornsby, Audio Describer and Head of Marketing, Octagon Theatre, Bolton Diana Hull, Audio Describer, London Audio Description Service, AUDEST Principal Tutor and member of AUDEST Steering Committee John Hyland, Audio Describer, Chichester Festival Theatre Susan Hyland, Audio Describer, Chichester Festival Theatre Janet Jackson, Audio Describer, Royal Shakespeare Company Becky Jefcoate, Marketing Assistant, Royal Opera House Maryse Jeffery, Audio Describer, Play it by Ear and AUDEST Trainer Margaret Jones, Audio Describer and Usher, Theatr Clywd Sally Kat, House Manager, Nottingham Playhouse Shirley Kirk, Marketing Manager, MAC, Birmingham Andy Kong, Sensorium Commercial (Exhibitor) Mary Lambert, London Audio Description Service Philippa Lane, Audio Describer, London Audio Description Service and AUDEST Trainer Richard Lane, Communications Officer, RNIB (Speaker) Owen Lane, Infratech Margaret Lewin, Marketing Manager, Cambridge Corn Exchange Bettina Lewis, Audio Describer, Royal Shakespeare Company Michaela Lewis, Customer Services Manager, Castle Theatre, Wellingborough Jill Lipman, Audio Describer, West Yorkshire Playhouse Alex Lingard, Arts Council of England (Observer) Diane Long, House Manager, Nottingham Playhouse

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Brian Loudon, Operations Manager, Edinburgh Festival Theatre Diana Luther, member of AUDEST Steering Committee Huw Maguire, Theatre Manager, Sherman Theatre, Cardiff Patricia Mahoney, Drama Officer, Arts Council of England Katy Manuel, Magenta Partnership Ruth McKenzie, Executive Director, Nottingham Playhouse Craig McKnight, Audio Describer, Nottingham Playhouse Marney Meakin, House Manager, Theatre Royal, Norwich Jim Melvin, Theatre Manager, Theatre Royal, York Alastair Moir, Administrative Director, Palace Theatre, Watford Grahame Morris, Commissioning and Executive Producer, Theatre Royal, Plymouth Lyn Moulding, House Manager, Cambridge Corn Exchange Anne Muers, Audio Describer, West Yorkshire Playhouse Rachel Murphy, House Manager, West Yorkshire Playhouse Jan Nesbitt, Campaigns Officer, RNIB Liam O’Carroll, Actor, Graeae Theatre Company Maria Oshodi, Arts and Disability Monitoring Committee, Arts Council of England Jayne Oxley, Marketing Manager, Theatre Royal and Opera House, Wakefield Helen Palmer, Audio Describer and Press and Publicity Officer, Library Theatre, Manchester William Palmer, Audio Describer, Nottingham Playhouse Jane Parish, Audio Describer, Nottingham Playhouse Barry Partridge, Audio Describer, Theatre Royal, Plymouth and AUDEST Trainer Janet Phillips, Assistant Editor, Theatrical Management Association Robert Pickles, Disability Scotland and AUDEST Steering Committee Mary Plackett, Audio Describer, London Audio Description Service/Royal Shakespeare Company and member of AUDEST Steering Committee Liz Porter, Actress and Awareness Trainer Monique Raffray, London Audio Description Service and member of AUDEST Steering Committee Josie Rasdall, Audio Describer, Theatre Royal, Plymouth Sue Reaney, Audio Describer, Nottingham Playhouse Isobel Reynolds, Audio Describer and Arts Alive Assistant, Belgrade Theatre, Coventry Julie Reynolds, Manager, SHAPE Ticket Scheme Jane Richardson, Audio Describer, Play it by Ear and AUDEST Trainer

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Gwynneth Riley, Theatre Club Organiser, Notts Royal Society for the Blind Michelle Roberts, Marketing Officer, Theatre Royal, York Anne Robson, Assistant Arts Officer, RNIB Jane Rosier, Access Officer, Royal Opera House Hazel Roy, Marketing Manager, Ticket and Escort Service, Arts About Manchester Jonathan Saville, Press Officer, Derby Playhouse Eric Sayce, Access Group, Belgrade Theatre, Coventry Neil Showell, Audio Describer, Sheffield Theatres Hazel Simm, Audio Describer and Usher, Theatr Clywd Christabel Smith, Operations Manager, Sunderland Empire Glenys Stevens, Audio Describer, Derby Playhouse and AUDEST Trainer Jacqui Taylor, Audio Describer, Theatre Royal, York Karen Teideman, Architect, Levitt Bernstein Associates Neil Thomson, Deputy General Manager, Blackpool Grand Theatre Yvonne Thong, Audio Describer, Theatre Royal, Plymouth Diana Toeman, Audio Describer, London Audio Description Service Jean Turner, Theatre Club, Notts Royal Society for the Blind Veronica Ward, Audio Describer, Royal Shakespeare Company Marcus Weisen, RNIB Arts Officer and member of AUDEST Steering Committee (Chair) Peter Westwood, RNIB Holidays and Leisure Sub-Committee Ian Whitaker, Marketing Officer, West Yorkshire Playhouse Naomi Wilds, Audio Describer, Derby Playhouse Brenda Williams, Theatre Club, Notts Royal Society for the Blind Fiona Williams, Press Officer and Audio Describer, Belgrade Theatre, Coventry Jean Williams, Escort to Ken Williams Ken Williams, Cardiff Institute for the Blind Dorothy Wilson, Programme Director, MAC, Birmingham Marion Wright, House Manager, Theatr Clywd Gregory York, Director, Talking Notes and member of AUDEST Steering Committee

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Report of the 1st National Audio Description Conference, Nottingham, 1997 28

Introduction to the audio described performance of The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband at Nottingham Playhouse, 19 March 1997

Ruth McKenzie introduced this unadvertised item at the end of her opening speech:

● Having welcomed you, my next task is very simply to welcome Jane Parish, one of our audio describers, who is going to give you an example – scary for her! – of the work we do here at Nottingham Playhouse by describing the set that is on the stage at this moment.

It is the set for The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband, which is a new play and a comedy with a very surprising and comic end which I am not going to tell you obviously and neither is Jane. Strangely enough, husbands are responding very differently to wives to this play…!

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Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Nottingham Playhouse and tonight’s performance of The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband, which was written by Debbie Isit. The production has been directed by Jenny Darnel and designed by Will Hargraves. The lighting designer is John Lynstrum. My name’s Jane and together with Tullia and Helen, I will be describing this evening’s performance.

The play has three characters, Kenneth, his ex-wife Hilary, and his mistress and later wife Laura. Kenneth can’t cope with the spiral of lies and deceit in his affair with Laura. Forced to confront the truth, he leaves his wife Hilary but there is just one little problem. Laura can’t cook. Ken yearns for the pleasures of his ex- wife’s haute cuisine, so when Hilary invites him and Laura for a lavish surprise dinner he readily accepts, unprepared for the delicacies Hilary has on the menu.

Kenneth, played by Ian Readington, is an aging of about 50. He’s about six foot tall with black hair slicked back off his unshaven face. He has long

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black sideburns. Middle age spread has taken its toll and he supports a very rotund stomach. He wears a purple velvet suit, the jacket of which has gold glittery lapels and cuffs and is lined with red satin. He wears a large collared gold satin shirt with the buttons straining over his pot belly. His are bright red to match the laces in his golden crepe soled brothel creeper platform . He moves jauntily, almost in a rock and roll rhythm and often preens himself, smoothing back his hair.

Hilary, played by Denise Black, is in her late forties. She has auburn hair styled with precision into a short bob, which is flicked up at the ends. She has a bright sunny face, natural makeup, and around her neck is a strand of large pale beads. She has a well-rounded figure and wears a dull blue, v-neck flowery dress with blotches of grey and yellow, over which she wears a pale pink mesh apron in the shape of a love heart, on which red love hearts form a border. She wears tan coloured, slightly wrinkled and on her feet are bright yellow fluffy . A pair of yellow rubber gloves are tucked into the band of her apron. Her movements are often exaggerated and comical.

Laura, played by Vanessa Bray, is in her 20s with long, curled, rich red hair which she often flicks over her shoulder. She has a fresh young face and pouty lips. She wears a low cut, strapped dress in bright purple taffeta. The dress is nipped in at the waist and has a full skirt, under which are several layers of white net petticoats. The straps and neckline are covered in purple sequins, and on her feet are purple glittery which have high chunky heels. She wears long elbow-length gloves which are creamy yellow in colour and which have lacy tops. She often stands hands on hips or teetering on her heels. There are no small props used in this production, therefore most actions, for example eating, drinking and smoking are all mimed, usually with exaggerated gestures.

The main scenery is the same throughout the play. In the centre at the back of the stage is a large circular tunnel trailing off into the distance, and at either side are two small irregular shaped tunnels leading off stage. These cavernous openings have ribbed ceilings and walls painted in blood red. The entrances to the two side tunnels are sometimes covered by a curtain of multi-coloured streamers. There are two doors either side of the central tunnel which look as if they are made of mottled metal tiles. The right hand one is used as the entrance to Hilary’s kitchen, and the left one to Laura’s house. In the wall space above

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each of the side caves are four small windows, each having a different window dressing – curtains, Venetian blinds, roller blinds or Austrian blinds. A small oblong window above the left hand door is covered like a serving hatch, and Hilary’s head and shoulders appear here during one of the scenes of the play. She also appears at the small window with Austrian blinds above the right hand door as if it were the upstairs of her house.

The walls of the set are painted in sage green with gold crosses dotted here and there. At the top of the set above the main tunnel, there’s a shelf that runs from one side of the set to the other, which supports 24 silver platters. Above this is a wavy topped wall which is also painted in sage green. This set remains the same throughout the whole of the play; changes in scene are denoted by different pieces of furniture, and indeed the actors themselves sliding on and off the stage from the side or the back. Two strips of the stage floor at the front move side ways to and from the side tunnels, and throughout the play props such as sofas, chairs and a sink unit are placed onto these strips like a conveyor belt and moved onto the stage in position.

In the first scene, an oversized oblong table about 18ft long and 8ft wide is at the mouth of the central tunnel and is covered with a plush velvet red tablecloth, with a white cotton tablecloth placed diagonally across it. The table is at a very exaggerated rake towards the audience. There are three chairs around the table, one at the head and one either side. The side chairs have very long thin spindly legs, and have pivoting seats. All three have ornate golden frames surrounding their plush crimson velvet seat pads.

The play opens with Hilary sitting up on the centre of the table, her legs wide apart.

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The Audio Description Association is grateful to Marcus Weisen and RNIB for help in preparing this report and permission to reproduce it

www.rnib.org.uk