Publications Archive

An Introduction to Audio Description in the Theatre

Summary: Live audio description in the theatre: history, guidelines, examples

• What is Audio Description?
• The RNIB Audio Description Advisory Group
• The play's the thing
• Audio description: Pioneer's progress
• To potential audio describers (November 1987)
• The Windsor experience
• Theatre responsibilities
• Appendix 1: Sample Programme Notes
• Appendix 2: New TV System Offers Descriptions for Blind

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© RNIB November 1988

What is Audio Description?

Audio description brings a new dimension to the enjoyment of visually handicapped theatregoers by attempting to fill in the gaps; for example, describing scenery, costumes, facial expressions and silent action.

In Audio Description the audio commentary is relayed through an earphone; it is live and the describer, who will already have seen the production several times in order to be really familiar with the action, is situated in a sound-proof box at the back or side of the stage.

Audio Description is both a technique and an art. Even gifted describers will require training if their skills are to reach the highest standards.

The idea originated in Washington DC, USA, where Margaret Rockwell and Cody Pfanstiehl launched an Audio Description Service in 1981.

The RNIB Audio Description Advisory Group

This Advisory Group was established in 1986 to promote the development of audio description services in the UK. It provides guidelines and introductory workshops for potential describers and theatre management. It also collates information on the development of audio description in the UK and will help newcomers in the field to liaise with theatres which may have already established successful and high standard audio description services.

The Advisory Group draws its members from organisations of/for blind and disabled people, and several theatres. At present the members are:

Chris Attrill, RNIB

Mary Lambert, SRAB

James Lincoln, Venturers Drama Group

Ted Little, Artsline

Mary-Ann Mallet, Arts Council

Linda Moss, Arts Council

Andrew Phipps, Duke of York's Theatre

Monique Raffray, SRAB

Paul Shearstone, Duke of York's Theatre

Marcus Weisen, RNIB

Trevor Williamson, Theatre Manager, Shape London

Associate advisers

Chris Davies, freelance author

Joanne Lukes, Co-ordinator of audio description service, Theatre Royal, Windsor

Victoria Thompson, British Theatre Association

The play's the thing

Audio description in the theatre: Margaret and Cody Pfanstiehl

When visually impaired people visit the theatre they usually rely on whispered comments from their sighted friends for information about the visual aspects of the play they are seeing. This can be an enjoyable form of sharing but it can also be something of a strain for both parties: the commentator is not quite free to concentrate completely on the performance, while not quite managing to give a full picture of what is happening on stage. These problems are now being overcome at several theatres in Washington DC, USA, thanks to the Audio Description Service launched there in 1981. Its co-founders, Margaret Rockwell and Cody Pfanstiehl, were interviewed by the BJVI when visiting Britain last July. The Audio Description Service has received wide acclaim in America and is, as far as is known, the only service of its kind in the world. Margaret and Cody spoke of its beginnings and of how it works at present, and touched on possible future developments.

When the Arena Stage theatre in Washington received a grant towards making its productions more accessible to the handicapped, they put in sound-amplifying equipment for the deal which they thought might also be useful as a channel for providing descriptive material for the blind. With this in mind they contacted Margaret Rockwell (visually impaired herself), the organiser of ‘The Washington Ear’, which is a radio reading service for the blind. As it happened, Margaret had just finished working on a project entitled 'Washington's Neighborhoods: A History of Change', designed for the visually impaired people who had either never seen these neighborhoods or had seen them with normal vision only many years before, so that they could not picture them or learn about them from their own observation. Setting up audio description in the theatre would be a further step in the same direction. "In a weak moment" Margaret agreed to take this on, little realising how much would be involved.

One of the people she approached for help was Cody Pfanstiehl, who had for twenty-one years been public spokesman for the Metro public transportation system, frequently appearing on radio and television in this connection. Cody became Margaret's first volunteer, and then her "ultimate volunteer" by marrying her. Together they have launched and developed the Audio Description Service and their enthusiastic and illuminating account showed how much insight, energy and time are required for this work. One of its most important aspects is the recruiting and training of volunteers. There is no telling from where or from what backgrounds they may come. One of the best is a geologist engineer. Many are would-be or professional writers, actors or workers in radio or television. Not everyone who is well-read is a good describer, though this helps: there must also be a certain innate knack for what is required.

Among the qualities required are imagination and judgement, a good sense of timing and ability to express oneself fluently and concisely. Describers must not allow their own reactions to the play to dominate; but at the same time they must enter into its emotional atmosphere: it would not quite do to have a flat monotonous voice remarking "they have just set the building on fire" or "he has kissed her"! Commentators should not evaluate or interpret, but rather be like the faithful lens of a camera: not "he is angry" or "she is sad" but "he is scowling" or "she is crying"; not "she seems a good hostess" but "she is greeting her guests" or "she is pouring out the tea".

When there is a large cast, it is helpful to give a quick indication of who is speaking, well into the play, except where the voices are distinctive and easy to recognise. Pauses must be used to mention exits and entrances that are not obvious, or any other significant details. If comic "sight-gags" are explained just a little in advance, the laughter can be joined in when it comes. Similarly, the mood of the moment or sense of tension can be shared if silences are explained: for instance, someone is stealing across the room with a dagger while the heroine is writing at her desk. Often there will not be time to bring in everything, and the commentator will have to decide which points can be left out and which must be included because of their significance later in the plot or because of what they reveal about a character or a theme.

The clothes the characters are wearing may matter a good deal or not much; their positions and movements on the stage will vary in importance; the actual distance and amount of eye contact between two people will be an element in the full meaning of what they are saying. Describers may have to be reminded that when these are of interest, colours and facial features and expressions must not be left out, because most visually impaired people have some residual vision and visual memories; the totally blind who have only intellectual concepts of the visual are a minority.

To achieve the challenging tasks asked of them, describers must of course know well the plays they are going to describe. They must therefore see them at least twice before attending the performance they will be presenting. Before this, their training may have involved listening to a production on audio cassette only, and then seeing it on video. This enables them to have some idea of what the visually impaired person is missing when he has to depend exclusively on listening to the dialogue. (Shutting your eyes for a part of a performance will of course have something of the same effect.) There are also training workshops in which a video is played to a group who practise describing it and then criticise one another's comments constructively.

The training of volunteers can take as little as two or three months if they have the right aptitude. However, as is the case with any art form (and good audio description certainly is one), no volunteer can ever say "I know how to do it; and I don't need to know anything more".

Because each performance differs in timing and detail, describing must always be done 'live', but this does not apply to the programme notes. These are prepared by the alternate volunteer assigned to the play and produced in ‘The Washington Ear’ studios. The script includes information supplied by the theatre such as the correct identification and nomenclature for costumes, stage furnishings, sets and characters. The back-up volunteer includes information from the ‘Playbill’ programme about the producers and actors and adds personal observations. Like the describer, the back-up volunteer sees the production in advance of the Audio Description presentation.

In the theatre the visually impaired person can listen to the tape about 10 minutes before the performance begins. The theatre also co-operates by giving free tickets to the describers for several performances, with a few complimentary tickets as encouragement.

If a play. runs for a month or six weeks, the Audio Description Service is available for one evening performance and one matinee; the number increasing if the run is longer. A small ear-piece connected to a receiver about the size of a cigarette box is all the equipment the visually impaired person requires; he can sit anywhere in the auditorium, hearing the play like everyone else and the audio description as an extra. The theatres which carry audio description equipment have ten sets and can borrow from one another.

Although it is preferable to notify the theatre in advance if one wishes to use the equipment, ushers are able to point out its availability to a visually impaired person in the audience who may not know of its existence. But in fact, efficient publicity is essential for the success of audio description. There is no "neat" way of reaching the visually impaired merely through the organisations concerned with them; there must be notices in the theatre programmes and in the theatres themselves, and, as for any other service, extensive advertising in the press.

Audio description has proved to be well worth all the effort involved, as the numerous appreciations received from visually impaired theatre-goers have shown. It has brought to their experience of theatre a new and exciting dimension. The good describer acts as a complement to the dialogue, making non-spoken material accessible as it is when one is reading a book.

The general slump in the theatre has slowed down the development of the Audio Description Service through lack of funding, but it is nevertheless beginning to spread beyond Washington (where it is now used in seven theatres). Margaret and Cody would like to see the service developed in other countries also and would be glad to give practical help with any attempt to introduce the service in Britain. The project should, they think, be grafted on to an existing organisation which would give it structure. It should preferably be attached to a particular theatre company, which might take an ongoing interest in the work. Professional actors who have read for tape services for the handicapped might also be sufficiently motivated to give their assistance.

Margaret and Cody have also been organising audio description for some television programmes and for films in museums. Technical problems make it unlikely that the service could be used for commercial films in the immediate future, but there are hopes of a break-through with reference to television. The Pfanstiehls are co-operating with a TV station in Boston which may be able to provide audio description in two years time.

Audio description, Margaret pointed out, "is as old as sighted people trying to tell blind people what things look like. But doing it in a prepared scheduled way is of course quite another matter".

• Further particulars about the Audio Description Service are available from the BJVI Editorial address: 55 Eton Avenue, London NW3 3ET.

From ‘The British Journal of Visual Impairment’, Autumn 1985 (llI:3)

Audio description: Pioneer's progress

In Autumn 1985 the BJVI (Vol.III No.3) published an article 'The play's the thing' describing the beginnings and development of audio description in the theatre as practised in Washington DC under the direction of Margaret and Cody Pfanstiehl. In 1986 the RNIB set up a working party (now known as the Audio Description Advisory Group) to promote audio description in the UK (BJVI Vol.IV No.2, Summer 1986). At the Theatre Royal, Windsor, audio description is now happening. In the following article Mark Piper, Director of the Theatre, tells the story.

October 1986 saw the beginning of an unusual correspondence between a playwright and myself. Norman King* had had two of his plays performed at Windsor (‘The Shadow of Doubt’ in 1956 and ‘Spin of the Wheel’ in 1964), but the subject that his initial letter broached was another aspect of theatre altogether, and one that was quite new to me. For reasons of simplicity, he described it merely as 'Theatre For The Blind', and was referring to a method of enabling visually handicapped theatregoers to get the most out of their theatre visits, and this by means of a continuous description of the action on stage, to be relayed through individual head-sets to those needing it. He told me that it had been pioneered in America but, as far as he knew, in this country was being done only in a small theatre with which he had family ties, the Robin Hood Theatre in Averham. There they operate principally on an amateur basis, and he said that his fondness for the Theatre Royal, Windsor, made him hope that if any such scheme was to be developed in professional theatre in Britain, this theatre-might be the one to start it.

The system that he explained struck me as disarmingly simple, and in November of that year Hugh Goldie (formerly director of productions here and still on our Board of Directors) and I drove up to Nottinghamshire and saw Norman demonstrate it, once in the delightful Robin Hood Theatre itself and once, more surprisingly but equally effectively, in a Methodist church in Newark (the scientific principle remained the same, even if we had shifted our spiritual ground). Both Hugh and I were quickly convinced of the potential value of such an innovation, even to the point of wondering why we hadn't all thought of it before. We returned to Windsor and I set about looking into it.

It so happened that, at the time, our induction loop system for the hard of hearing was ‘on the blink’ and in need of replacement, it seemed a golden opportunity to combine the answer, to the needs of those finding it hard to hear plays with an answer to the needs of those finding it hard to see them: A company called Sennheiser seemed to have come up with the best equipment, transmitting the sound via small 'radiators' placed on either side of the proscenium arch and using infra-red. This system includes individual head-sets, some of which are stereophonic and can therefore be switched to a channel transmitting audio description. Since the Lions Club of Windsor had generously provided the loop system, I felt it only fair to give them first refusal on the Sennheiser. And they enthusiastically agreed to pay for this.

So the new system was installed before Christmas 1987. But it is one thing to install a system, and another to find the people to operate it. Over some months we were in close contact with the RNIB, the South Regional Association for the Blind and our local Social Services Department. All were most co-operative. So far, so good. But, of course, the. really hard work lay with those undertaking to provide the audio description. Joanne Lukes at the Social Services Department undertook to learn this new skill herself and involve a few other volunteers - thus a small band of four volunteer 'describers' cut their teeth on ‘Stepping Out’ (January/February 1988). This proved to be a happy choice for the first attempt, since there was just the right balance of dialogue and action (that is to say, not too little and not too much for the describer to help her audience to 'see'), and the added bonus of a bit of music and dancing which could be talked over without losing any dialogue.

But, as with most experiments, what seemed straightforward in theory brought with it a collection of unforeseen problems and technical hitches. These range from cramped conditions in our projection room which, during the ‘Stepping Out’ sequences that required a follow-spot operator, became very awkward, to more uncontrollable phenomena such as sudden interference on the audio description frequency from taxi firms and foreign radio stations. All problems have, we think, now been satisfactorily ironed out and we have come to provide the following service.

For every final Saturday matinee, those wishing to avail themselves of the facility have only to ring the Box Office and, when booking seats, ask also that a stereo head-set be reserved for them. For half an hour before the performance anyone tuning into the audio description channel can hear recorded music (played on a tape recorder generously provided by the RNIB). Apart from providing something pleasant to listen to, this also gives the listener time to check the head-set for volume. A few minutes before the performance the music is replaced by the describer's introductory comments, which will be a thorough description of the set and characters.

The describer needs to have seen the play at least twice before preparing the individual notes and commentary for the script for her own act or scenes. (No single describer has yet undertaken to describe a play in its entirety.) So it is a hard job for the describer, and I salute the hard work and enthusiasm of the small but growing number of those that have undertaken to do it.

Perhaps the most gratifying of all have been the letters that Joanne Lukes and I have received from visually impaired customers who had given up coming to the theatre but who came to give the system a try. Their gratitude and delight at being able to join the rest of the audience in 'seeing’ the show is a great reward for the work that has gone into getting the project off the ground.

(From ‘The British Journal of Visual Impairment’, Summer 1988 (VI:2), taken from ‘Curtain Up', The Magazine Programme of the Theatre Royal, Windsor)

* We are sad to record the death of Norman King in January 1988, just before the beginning of audio description in Windsor.

To potential audio describers (November 1987)

From Monique Raffray, Member of Editorial Board, British Journal of Visual Impairment (South Regional Association for the Blind)

To enjoy the theatre without being able to see the stage is certainly quite possible. There are the dialogue and silences to be listened to with total concentration, a variety of significant sounds to be carefully registered, and that exciting sense of a strong current of communication passing between actors and audience. Inevitably however, with eyes not complementing ears, there are many gaps to be filled in. As a totally blind person and a passionate theatregoer, I undoubtedly find my grasp of a play enriched when I am with someone who happens to be a good describer. This is why audio description is such a wonderful asset.

One way of beginning perhaps is to close your eyes, for as long as you can bear it, next time you go to the theatre or watch a TV play. When you open them again, you may have a clearer impression of what the gaps are, and, realising what you have been missing, you will be more aware of how much depends on what is being seen. So audio description is simply transmitting the visual elements in a play, as far as possible, to those who either can't see at all or have partial sight.

What exactly does the visually impaired person need and want to know, and how much of it will there be time to tell him? Experiment and practice are the only ways of discovering this; but a few do's and don'ts may help. Here are some based largely on guidelines given by Margaret and Cody Pfanstiehl, who set up an audio description service in Washington DC in 1981, and are pioneers and experts in this field.

• Don't talk at the same time as the actors - it is to hear them that your listeners have come!
• Your listeners don’t need to know that the front door bell or telephone is ringing (though it obviously doesn't matter if you say this in a moment of nervous panic!).
• What they do need to know is what is happening, either to accompany the dialogue and sounds (is he taking her hand as he speaks, or giving her a dismissive nod?); or during a long pause (the waiter has emptied the pepper pot into the soup).
• It is also useful to be told whether there have been any unobvious entrances or exits (one character may have crept back on to the stage and be listening to a supposed tête-à-tête, or another may slip out with a defiant gesture at the group who are arguing).
• Sometimes it may be necessary to describe beforehand an action which there will not be time to explain during the perfomance - something, for instance, which will make the audience suddenly burst out laughing.
• Dress, appearance and facial expressions are all of great interest, and have to be described in varying amount of detail according to their importance in a particular context. A fixed grin, a warm smile or a perplexed frown may be revealing clues; as may a torn jacket or a well-cut coat.
• It is important to mention colours: most visually impaired people remember them vividly, and some may still be able to see them indistinctly.

The essentials of the scenery (is it a bare stage, a well-furnished room or an attic with 'pin-up' posters on the walls?) will probably have been described in the pre-recorded programme notes which can be listened to before the curtain goes up and in the interval.

Since your role is to be that of "a verbal camera lense", as Margaret Pfanstiehl put it, you have to resist the temptation of letting your own feelings and opinions come through in your voice and what you are saying. You can't of course describe a deathbed scene and a rowdy wedding party in quite the same tone, but you mustn't imply that you consider deathbeds and rowdy parties out of place on the stage!

Finally, though you may be feeling rather tense yourself, you must try to be quite relaxed - not as if you were addressing the whole audience formally, but quite informally describing the play to a friend in the next seat. However inadequate you may consider yourself, you will be providing essential information - perhaps, for instance, to someone who has been wondering, in more or less patient frustration, what has been going on, and why there is such an expectant hush, when suddenly the silence is broken by a bloodcurdling scream or a cry of joyous surprise. Here your descriptive words will have turned your listeners' blank uncertainty into a close integration with the rest of the audience.

To sum up, describe as much as possible of what can be seen and not heard, but don't expect to get it all said! Margaret and Cody have pointed out that audio description is an art, and in art, as in so much else, one never stops learning.

Postscript

Margaret Pfanstiehl (August 1987)

"Depending on the play… 50 per cent of the meaning is conveyed in the visual message, stage action and body language. Without audio description, you get a very incomplete experience."

The Windsor experience

‘Stepping Out’ – First Discussion

Notes extracted from recorded discussion with two visually handicapped theatregoers following the first audio commentary at Windsor Theatre on 6 February 1988.

Guidelines:

• "Just tell us what you can see and we can't."

Programme notes:

• Name the Cast.
• More description of physical characteristics - mannerisms, posture, the way they move and walk, age, hair colour, height, thin, fat, etc would be helpful, if necessary (lack of time) at the expense of more detailed description of the set.
• No need to give information which will become apparent in the dialogue, describe the essentially visual.
• Indicate that throughout the action the characters will form several separate groups talking, practising dance steps etc, though it won't always be possible to describe exactly what each group is doing.
• Give information about props, ie bags, holdalls, chairs.
• Say when programme notes have ended and when commentary will begin or resume after the interval between acts.
• It would be helpful to have music playing to indicate receiver is tuned to audio channel before commentary begins and during the interval.

Commentary

• Be explicit in your description, don't say something is typical, describe it - don't say "Mrs Frazer reacts", describe how (looks up).
• Don't just say physical force is used, describe how it's used, ie attacking Geoffrey, grabbing both arms, pulling him about, etc.
• Describe the mood or manner of actors as they enter or exit.
• Describe any movement or expression that conveys emotion, eg characters moving away from or nearer to each other, glances, smiles, holding hands.
• Explain stage noises if not obvious, ie bags being dropped on the floor, chairs being dragged across the stage,
• If possible, anticipate any particularly amusing situations in the gaps between scenes.
• Highlight the clumsiness of the dancers, and throughout the action the gradual increasing ability and competence could be mentioned.
• Throughout the first couple of scenes in the first act quickly announce the name of the actor as he speaks - particularly important when there is a large cast.

Training

• Training requires practice, discussing problems and feedback from receivers.

Joanne Lukes, Windsor, 10.2.1988

‘Stepping Out’ – Second Discussion

Notes extracted from recorded discussion with five visually handicapped theatregoers following audio commentary at Windsor Theatre on 13 February 1988.

Programme notes

Miss P: 'I found it useful describing the beginning particularly when they told us where things were situated on the stage, because I shouldn't have seen them'.

JP: 'When you told me what was there I could see what it was'.

It was interesting to know how much of the information given beforehand when the characters were still unfamiliar could be remembered. Miss P, aged 78, demonstrated by quoting some of the description given to her three hours previously.

CB: 'It surfaces when you need it'.

Commentary

RB: 'For me, every word of commentary was a bonus. The cumulative effect was absolutely splendid. Congratulations to everybody who put this together in really what was such a short time'.

CB: 'It was apposite. What I admired was that you did keep it concise. You didn't try and talk all the time. You got the right balance'.

JP: 'What I found good - I feel less strained. When I have been to pictures or theatre I am usually quite headachy and my eyes are sore. If you've got some sight and you have always been used to really looking and seeing, you still always try to look and you can't see everything. I am always saying to people "What's he doing now?" You can see something's happening, but can't see what it is, so you have this terrible strain and you miss so many things because you can just see bits of it. Things are terribly disjointed because when concentrating on the main action you miss things going on at the side and lose the whole flow of it'.

The audio commentary 'kept all of the action in your mind. I thought you did that remarkably well. I felt I hadn't missed bits. I felt it flowed and things haven't flowed for me for a long time'.

CB: 'You can bank on the fact we can use our imagination to a certain extent and once you have set us off with the idea that people are splitting into groups we can supply the rest. Just start us off, point us in the right direction and we can do the rest ourselves'.

• The technique of quickly naming characters as they spoke throughout the first two scenes seems to have been effective in shortening the time taken to recognise the voices.

Ideas to be borne in mind

• Describe changes in lighting if they are important to a scene, for example lightening, day, night; brightly or dimly lit room.
• An alternative approach to programme notes. Write a 'talk script', not so literary or grammatical, saves time, can get in more information.

Technical details

• Music playing on commentary channel before the commentary began was found to be helpful in identifying the correct channel and adjusting the volume control.

Joanne Lukes, Windsor, 15.2.1988

Guidelines for preparing programme notes at Windsor Theatre

The notes, which are read before the curtain rises on the first act, are timed to last no more than ten minutes - preferably much less. In practice we usually find five or six minutes is about right.

In a play where the set remains the same throughout, notes read before the second and third acts usually take only one or two minutes - longer of course if the set is changed.

We have learned from our experience over the past ten months and eleven plays that the description required by those with some vision is different from the description required by those with little or no sight.

Those with some sight appreciate a more detailed description of the set, characters and costumes because they are then able to make more sense of inadequate visual information, e.g. identify blurred objects; recognise characters by colour of costume, etc.

Those with no vision are in danger of being overloaded with information to the extent that they despair of retaining all of it and abandon the attempt to retain any of it.

We are still learning how to fulfil both sets of requirements, but we have reduced and simplified the description given in the programme notes which, in general, are set out as follows:-

Title

Author

The cast

Outline of the play

Brief details of the play are compiled from the theatre's handbill. Avoid the opinions of newspaper critics and journalists.

Setting

Details of the place, period and time span are taken from the printed theatre programme and from the script.

Description of the set

Set the atmosphere; describe the architecture geographically but simply. Don't use stage language (down centre, up stage, etc.) as it is not generally understood. Say left, right, back of stage, front of stage, etc. The position of doors and where they lead to is particularly important.

Mention the style of furniture and the period, perhaps giving prominence to a few important items, describing them and saying where they are. Sometimes it is appropriate to list most of the rest of the furniture but make no attempt to describe it or place it. Convey a clear picture, uncluttered with too much detail; leave something to the imagination and much of the detail will fall into place as the play unfolds and the Describer mentions particular objects as they become relevant.

Lighting

Describe the lighting effects, e.g. table lamps creating soft pools of light. Changes in lighting effects should be mentioned during the action of the play, e.g. the room grows darker as the late afternoon sun fades.

Characters and costumes

Describe only those appearing in the first act - leave the description of those appearing in the second or third acts only to be given during the interval. Describe age, appearance and mannerisms, style and colour of costume - the amount of detail necessary varies in importance according to the production, but again give simple clear, uncluttered descriptions. Don't attempt to be precise about every detail.

Acts and intervals

Give the number of acts and the number and length of intervals.

Opening scene

Finally describe the scene which greets the audience as the curtain rises - which characters are on stage and what is happening.

The notes describing subsequent scenes in the first act are read during the few moments the curtain is lowered between scenes.

At the end of the first act the Describer should remind the audience of the length of the interval and say when the commentary will resume, i.e. as the curtain rises on the next act or several minutes before.

Joanne Lukes, Windsor, October 1988

Theatre responsibilities

The following notes may be useful for theatres interested in providing Audio Description.

1. There must be a sustained commitment from the theatre management; those involved will also include front of house staff and electrical and sound technicians.s

2. The installing and maintaining of equipment (Sennheiser infra-red system or short wave radio, headphones, a microphone and a cassette recorder) and the provision of a sound-proof box.

3. Free seats for pre-viewing plays to be audio described.

4. Availability of up-to-date scripts and free programmes for describers.

5. Publicity for Audio Description Service.

6. Co-operation in the recruitment and training of volunteer describers.

Appendix 1: Sample Programme Notes

‘Black Coffee’ by Agatha Christie

Theatre Royal, Windsor, June '88

Cast in order of appearance

Tredwell (the butler): David Bedard

Lucia Amory (Richard's wife): Sorel Johnson

Miss Caroline Amory (Sir Claud Amory's sister): Elisabeth Choice

Richard Amory (his son): Timothy Ackroyd

Barbara Amory (his niece): Janine Wood

Edward Raynor (his secretary): Richard Clews

Dr. Carelli: Jonathon Elsom

Sir Claud Amory: Bryan Coleman

Hercule Poirot: Alfred Marks

Captain Arthur Hastings, O.B.E.: lan Collier

Dr. Graham: Seymour Matthews

Inspector Japp: Dennis Chinnery

Johnson (a constable): Seymour Matthews

Introduction

The play is set in the 1930's in Sir Claud Amory's country house at Abbot's Cleve, about twenty-five miles from London, to which Hercule Poirot is summoned to solve the mystery of a stolen atomic formula. The plot at first looks like a simple one of blackmail, but with poison featuring prominently in the medicine chest, a strange after-dinner death and the sudden disappearance of a coffee cup, it quickly assumes the dimensions of a highly complicated intrigue.

The action of the play takes place in the library of Sir Claud Amory's house during one evening and the following morning. The library is a cosy room with beamed ceiling and oak-panelled walls. There are heavy flock curtains to the French windows, cheerful carpet squares on the polished wood floor and bookshelves set into the oak panelling.

The French windows in the left of the back wall open onto the garden. The door in the right of the back wall leads to the entrance hall. A door on the left wall, next to the large open fireplace, leads into Sir Claud's study. The door on the right wall, opposite the fireplace, leads to the dining room.

The furniture is old-fashioned but of no particular period. There is a large squashy sofa with red upholstery near the fireplace on the left, with a coffee table placed in front of it. The rest of the furniture includes a small table and chairs, a desk with an old-fashioned black telephone and small table lamp, an old grammophone and records and a narrow table holding a large bushy plant in a brass pot. At night the room is pleasantly lit by several small wall lights.

The family consists of Sir Claud, a clean-shaven, grey-haired man of about 60, his elderly sister, Caroline, his son, Richard, who is in his late 20's, Richard's beautiful, raven-haired, half-Italian wife Lucia, who is about 25 and his niece Barbara, an extremely modern young woman of 21, slender and pretty with blonde curls.

When the play opens, Sir Claud's family, his secretary, Edward Raynor and their Italian visitor, Dr. Carelli, are just finishing dinner in the dining room. When they emerge, they are all wearing evening dress, the men in dinner jackets, except Sir Claud who is wearing a maroon velvet smoking jacket and the ladies in long, flowing, silk dresses of the 1930's period. Lucia is wearing a red dress, her Aunt Caroline a blue one and Barbara a green dress.

Raynor, Sir Claud's secretary, is a slim young man with sharp features. Carelli, the Italian visitor, is a rather sly-looking man with black hair and a moustache.

When Poirot arrives, he is a chubby man with a small moustache; he wears a dark suit with his characteristic spats. His assistant, Hastings, is a tall, handsome man with a puzzled expression; his fair hair is greying slightly, he has a bushy moustache and smokes a pipe. He wears tweeds and plus-fours.

There are three Acts and two intervals and when the curtain rises on Act 1 it is about 8.30 in the evening. The curtains are drawn and the empty library is in complete darkness. After a few moments, Tredwell enters from the dining room. Tredwell wears a smart butler's uniform. He is middle-aged and very correct. He switches on the small desk lamp to make his telephone call and then switches on all of the wall lights in readiness for the family.

Act 2

The scene is the library the following morning. The curtains are drawn back but the French windows are still closed. The spill vase on the mantelshelf has been slightly moved, the coffee cups are still on the tables where they were left the previous night.

The characters will be wearing smart day clothes of the 1930's period. Lucia and Caroline in sombre skirts and blouses, but Barbara defiantly wearing a brightly coloured print dress.

When the curtain rises Hastings is sitting on the arm of the sofa taking notes as Poirot questions Richard on the events of the night before.

Act 3

The scene is the library fifteen minutes later. The French windows are open and we have a view of a well-kept garden.

When the curtain rises, Johnson the constable is standing guard by the hall door and Inspector Japp is talking to Poirot and Hastings.

‘Bedroom Farce’ by Alan Ayckbourn

Theatre Royal, Windsor, June '88

Cast

Delia: Doreen Mantle

Ernest: David Stoll

Nick: Richard Freeman

Jan: Stacy Dorning

Kate: Caroline Webster

Malcolm: Davyd Harries

Trevor: Richard Denning

Susannah: Liz Crowther

Introduction

‘Bedroom Farce’ is a comedy involving four couples and the action of the play takes place in three bedrooms in separate houses during one Saturday evening.

We are looking at all three bedrooms simultaneously and each is lit up in turn as the action flows from one bedroom to another.

The bedroom on the left is the largest of these three very different rooms and belongs to Delia and Ernest, a middle-aged couple celebrating their wedding anniversary. It is an old-fashioned room with dull heavily patterned wallpaper, dark furniture and a deep pink satin quilted bedspread on the double bed. At the back of the room a door on the left leads to the bathroom and a door on the right leads to the landing and the rest of the house.

The bedroom in the centre is a small untidy sparsely furnished room, its walls stripped ready for redecoration, giving the room a cold, unwelcoming appearance. The unmade bed has a lime-green candlewick bedspread and blue bed linen. A door at the back of the room leads to the rest of the house.

The occupants of this room are Kate and Malcolm, a good-natured rather silly young couple who indulge in much horseplay and practical jokes.

Kate is a pleasant-looking girl whose boyishly short hair is streaked with blond highlights. Her husband Malcolm is a tall, solidly built young man.

The bedroom on the right is furnished and decorated in a more trendy style, pale green emulsion walls, pine furniture and a duvet on the bed with a pretty floral-patterned cover which matches the curtains and dressing table skirt. The bed linen is a cheerful yellow and there are rugs on the floor.

This room belongs to Jan and Nick who have been invited to Kate and Malcolm's house warming party. Nick however, has hurt his back and is confined to his bed. He is a nice-looking, dark-haired young man wearing bright red pyjamas and his sulky expression shows he is feeling very sorry for himself.

His wife Jan, an attractive, elegant, fair-haired lady whose long hair is swept up into a loose knot, wears a mid-calf length flowing black skirt and a loose fitting top in a cream jersey material belted around her slender waist.

The forth couple whose marital problems disrupt everyone’s evening are the neurotic Trevor and Susannah. Trevor, an intense, unhappy-looking man, wears an olive green corduroy suit and a red check shirt. Susannah, small and slim with a mass of wild auburn hair and a pretty face with a taught anxious expression, wears tight trousers, spiky high-heeled shoes and two or three layers of very large loose-fitting tops.

When the curtain rises on act 1 it is 7.00 p.m. on Saturday evening and the action begins in Delia and Ernest's bedroom on the left as they prepare to go out to celebrate their anniversary.

Delia is seated at the dressing table. She is in her slip and finishing her makeup - an elaborate operation. Ernest wanders in. He is bumbling nearly sixty. He is in evening dress. He stares at Delia. They are obviously going to be late but Ernest has learnt that impatience gets him nowhere.

Act 2

As the curtain rises on Act 2, only a few moments have elapsed and the lights are on in all three bedrooms.

Malcolm and Kate's room is now strewn with tools from his tool-box; bits of self-assembly furniture are scattered about and Malcolm is crouching on the floor studying the plan. Kate sits on the bed watching.

Delia is in bed in her room on the left and Nick, as usual, is in bed in the room on the right.

Appendix 2: New TV System Offers Descriptions for Blind

The New York Times, Television, Wednesday, January 13, 1988

By Irvin Molotsky

Special to The New York Times

WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 -- When public television broadcasts a three-part performance of Eugene O'Neill's "Strange Interlude" next week, blind and vision-impaired people in nine areas may be able to enjoy the show more than in the past, since an oral description of the visual portions will be broadcast at the same time.

During pauses in dialogue, descriptions are broadcast of the action, the sets, body language, costumes, lighting and the like, perceptions that are part of the viewing experience of a sighted person.

The oral description will be carried on a separate channel available only on stereo television sets. People without vision problems, therefore, will be able to watch the normal transmission of the play without even being aware that the additional sound portion is also being broadcast.

"It provides a tremendously enriching experience for a blind or vision-impaired person," said Barry Cronin, director of telecommunications at station WGBH in Boston and one of the developers of the system. The O'Neill play will be broadcast on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday as part of the PBS “American Playhouse" series. Mr. Cronin's station will carry the additional audio signal, as will WNET in New York, WETA in Washington, WCBB in Lewiston, Me., WXXI in Rochester, WVIZ in Cleveland, WBGU in Bowling Green, Ohio, KERA in Dallas and WMVS in Milwaukee. The system, PBS said today, is expected to be offered on additional public broadcasting stations later this year.

Descriptions at Arena Stage

The system, known as the Descriptive Video Service, was developed by WGBH, "American Playhouse", PBS and the Washington Ear, a Washington-based reading service for the blind.

Five years ago, the Washington Ear started providing similar oral descriptions for the blind at plays performed at the Arena Stage. Washington Ear volunteers, trained by Dr. Margaret Pfanstiehl, created the audio descriptions that will be broadcast during the O'Neill play.

Speaking of the television project, Dr. Pfanstiehl said, "We are hoping that this service will someday be as comprehensive as closed-captioning for the deaf now is'."

Mr. Cronin said that a television signal consisted of the visual portion and, in effect, three sound channels. Two of these can accommodate the twin signals needed for stereo and the third is available for any of several uses by the station.

For the O'Neill play and others to follow, that channel will carry the oral descriptions of the action.

"Turn on your television and close your eyes," Mr. Cronin said. "At times you will hear music, grunts, gunshots. If you're blind, that doesn't mean anything."

A surprisingly large number of blind and visually impaired people tune in their television sets, Mr. Cronin said, and PBS cited a 1976 study from the American Foundation for the Blind that found that the blind and those with limited vision tuned in television for up to an average of two and a half hours a day.

Some 9.2 million television sets in the United States are equipped for stereo broadcasts and can therefore immediately receive the audio description, which can be tuned in by turning on a switch. More than five million stereo television sets are expected to be sold this year.

Those whose sets do not have stereo capability would have to purchase an adapter, for $100 to $200, to receive the added channel.

Content author: library@rnib.org.uk

Last updated: 20/11/2008 11:13