Creating a Playscript in BSL
This report presents findings from the VX Lab – Creating a Playscript in BSL which took place in autumn 2025 at Sheffield Theatres.
The Lab demonstrated clearly that BSL theatre-making cannot simply retrofit English-based commissioning structures. The terminology of writing, text and recording carries assumptions rooted in written English and hearing-led industry practice.
The most significant finding is the positioning of BSL theatre-making not as an integrated adjunct to English-language work, but as a primary creative language in its own right. It is a matter of linguistic legitimacy and artistic equity.
This has been the start of the conversation and it must continue, with Deaf leadership at the front and centre of this process.
There is space for the conversation around how to commission a script in BSL and the question is no longer whether BSL scripts can exist, but how the sector is willing to adapt to accommodate them.
![Two people of British-South Asian Ethnicity, one female, one male, stand facing each other, about 2 meters apart. They stand in front of a screen, on which is projected captions. The words in English are in blue, and the words in Punjabi are in yellow. The captions read: Jindan: Punjabi bol! [Jindan: Speak Punjabi]. Duleep: I don't remember it! [Duleep: Mainu nahi Aundi!]](https://staging.vitalxposure.co.uk/app/uploads/2025/03/VX-Labs-Captioning-Lab-13.11.2024-scaled-1-900x600.jpg?theia_smart_thumbnails_file_version=2)
