A silence full of sounds

Deafness is not the opposite of hearing, it’s a silence full of sounds.

So says deaf student Sarah Norman to her tutor in the play Children of a Lesser God, which opens at Circa Theatre on January 16.

Wellington actor Miranda Harcourt, who plays Sarah, understands her character’s sentiments. She spent eight months learning sign language before the play opened at Dunedin’s Fortune Theatre in October.

The sign language of the deaf was more than just a language, she said. “It should be looked at as another culture.”

The character of Sarah is deaf from birth. She communicates on the stage through sign language. Her teacher interprets for the audience by repeating what she says.

After the play’s Dunedin season finished, Harcourt travelled to Auckland to take part in a theatre workshop with deaf children. The experience, she said, was amazing.

She said she had sophisticated conversations with the children through sign language. They spoke to her with “amazing honesty” about topics children would normally avoid, she said.

Harcourt said she had little experience with deaf people before taking on the role.

Her main contact with the deaf was while she was a pupil at Marsden Collegiate School where there were deaf pupils. Her old school lent some of the props for the play’s set.

However, since acting the role she has encountered many people with deaf members of their family and deaf friends.

Rehearsals for the production took place in an unusual setting.

Director Lisa Warrington was injured in a car accident during the rehearsal stage. In true theatrical form they improvised by rehearsing in her hospital room.

Harcourt, 24, is a graduate of the New Zealand Drama School. She joined Fortune Theatre after graduation and next year plans a residency at Palmerston North’s Centrepoint Theatre.

She is the daughter of local actor Kate Harcourt who plays the role of her mother in Children of a Lesser God.

Her father is broadcaster-writer Peter Harcourt.