The Ghost of Alexander Blackwood
★★★★☆ Thought-provoking
Deaf Action @ Blackwood Bar (Venue 498): Sat 10 – Sun 18 Aug 2024
Review by Katrina Dixon
Deaf Action’s third annual arts festival celebrates deaf language, culture and, in this two-hander theatre performance written by Nadia Nadarajah, the history of pioneers in the Edinburgh deaf community.
The Ghost of Alexander Blackwood is performed and produced by a deaf cast, who keep the packed venue of the Blackwood Bar enthralled in a show that moves through stories with simple and fluid elegance. The physical and emotional elements of British Sign Language (BSL) and power of Daniel Hughes’ haiku-like creative captions on the video screen come to the fore as the two actors move through short scenes about important people in Edinburgh’s deaf history.
Amy Murray and Connor Bryson with a photographic portrait of Alexander Blackwood in the church within Deaf Action’s Edinburgh headquarters. Pic: Colin Hattersley Photography.
Actor Connor Bryson brings a focus and magnetism to the central character of Alexander Blackwood, the educator and community leader who played a crucial role in bringing deaf people together, founding the world’s first deaf-led organisation in 1835, which is now known as Deaf Action. Among Blackwood’s ideas, he crucially advocated for better understanding of and communication with deaf people.
Fellow actor Amy Murray helps the audience to understand and meet other innovators in this community in her vivid and energetic characterisations of other notable deaf historical figures, including the philanthropist James Herriot and artist Walter Geikie.
accessible to all
Director Benedetta Zanetti ensures that scenes come to life through simple movements and costumes – a journey in a carriage drawn by horses, the Great Edinburgh Fire of 1824, the re-enacted death of a baby and trial of the deaf mute mother Jean Campbell.
Everything about the performance is accessible to all, deaf and non-deaf alike, from the visuals and actions to Simone Seales’ sound design. The dominant sound is a recurring, resonant bass beat, so that deaf people can experience it, but it also acts as a physical vibration – a reverberation like a heartbeat travelling through time, just as these stories of bravery and innovation are timeless.
Running time: 50 minutes (no interval)
Deaf Action @ Blackwood Bar, 49 Albany St, EH1 3QY (Venue 498)
Sat 10/Sun 11, Fri 16 – Sun 18 August 2024
Various times
Details and tickets at: Book here
Website: https://edinburghdeaffestival.com
Facebook: @EdinDeafFestival
Instagram: @edindeaffestival
TikTok: @edinburgh_deaf_festival
X: @EdinDeafFest
ENDS
Bellissimo lavoro, bravissimi gli interpreti ottime le luci e il suono, eccezionale la regia , un super lavoro, complimenti a tutti.
(Beautiful work, excellent performers, excellent lights and sound, exceptional direction, a super job, congratulations to all.)
We must remember from where we come.
A little step at a time can bring everyone on the top of the mountain.
Thank you all! Thank Mr. Alexander Blackwood.