A man with a really wet, red raincoat was walking along the street and stopped at the traffic lights waiting to cross the road. "Theatre," he proclaimed in those vital seconds he had. "It’s right over there love," said a sweet old lady who was standing right next to him. "Oh!" The man was startled.

"Right, thank you." He smiled and was on his way. While the man was crossing, a young passer-by shouted, "Theatre?" The passer-by obviously heard his proclamation earlier. "Is that where famous people off the telly do musicals up in the West End and those Christmas pantos?"

The man stuttered at the question asked of him: 'Well...yes, and no...because theatre is everywhere."

Okay that didn't really happen. But theatre is everywhere. You see performances in big and small theatres, in the street, in comedy clubs, at festivals, on televisions and even in the pub where your mates tell you funny stories. They all have one thing in common - telling the story. Each performance has a different way of telling them and a different way of making you (the audience) feel or think about certain things. While theatre is everywhere, it is not for everyone. In my case, not all theatre is accessible. I am talking about for d/Deaf audiences.

So when the opportunity came to see The Best Thing, I was right there.

Vamos Theatre, the UK's leading full mask theatre company, is touring The Best Thing around the UK till 19th April (tour dates are here). The Best Thing is a wordless mask show set in the sexual revolution of the 1960s, with moral consequences for the family in the decades to come.

Emily, Mary-Jayne, Sarah and myself (see Emily's hilarious blog here) arrived at Wolverhampton Arena for the 11.30 am performance of The Best Thing on February 15th. Wolverhampton is also the home of Deaffest - a Deaf-led Film & Arts Festival where Vamos will be doing workshops, as well as a performance in May (you can find out more here - external link). The seats of the theatre were soon filled up by two schools. One of them is Braidwood School, a deaf school in Birmingham where we’ll be leading mask workshops in March. The show itself is very visual because the four performers use the masks and their bodies to tell the story. There are no words, captions or signs, which means the show is accessible for both hearing and d/Deaf audiences. Okay, there was some music throughout but the performers clearly showed that through dance, and the costumes they wore showed the era they were in. The show is funny and warm but heart-breaking too.

The audience was really responsive, laughing, reacting at graphical moments and signing amongst themselves, talking about what was happening. This is important so that we all can enjoy the theatre experience equally - kudos to Vamos Theatre for doing this, and applying it to every performance. The show was also a chance for us and the performers to meet Braidwood School, so they know who we all are. There was a Q & A section after the performance which was fantastic. The pupils were really eager, asking questions about why the show was moving between the 1960s to the present day and back, how many masks there were (20 of them!), how they change from one role to another (they are incredibly fast!) and how the performers learned to do mask theatre. One of the performers is Italian, so English is not his first language, but because of what Vamos does, mask and physicality bridge those gaps. So a d/Deaf performer can do mask theatre as well, because being visual is in our nature. But to be better performers, we need training in mask/physical theatre. So the opportunity for us Deaf practitioners to teach the pupils of Braidwood School mask work will hopefully inspire the pupils to pursue a career in mask theatre in the future. The school left the theatre excited, and we are really excited to be working with them in a month’s time.

To see a show that is accessible inspires people to see themselves doing it, telling their story in the way they know how.

Do go and see The Best Thing if you haven't yet.

Stephen Collins