Deaf people and the theatrical public sphere

Abstract

The nature of any public sphere is that it embraces all private citizens: it is, in current parlance, accessible. The British theatre institution demonstrates a commitment to accessibility in its funding structures and performance programming. Much of the modern theatrical public sphere is, however, mediated not through performance itself, but rather through various framing activities. Marketing and audience development initiatives constitute the means by which theatre institutions engage in communication with their audiences and have more recently become increasingly dialogic through the use of social media and online criticism.