Sir, - Thanks to your letters page (August 14th) I have now at last received from the Gate Theatre a reply to my letter of February 1st regarding signed performances for the deaf. Apparently, the reason for the 6 1/2 month delay was the deputy director's illness; also, my letter was misfiled. These things happen.
I am told the Gate has a "very active policy" towards the disabled - it has just recently made the theatre accessible to wheelchairs by installing a lift "at considerable cost" - and I am thanked for my suggestions. There is no specific mention in the letter as to whether the Gate has any plans to have signed performances - my initial query.
Since first writing to your paper, I have learnt that several other theatre companies in Belfast are following the Lyric's lead and are planning to present signed performances of future productions; some (e.g. Prime Cut, Tinderbox) have already done so. And facilities in the North, let me say, fall far short of those in England and Scotland, where there seems to be a greater will to provide for their disabled patrons.
At a time when Irish theatre is at an unprecedented high, conquering Broadway, winning Tony Awards, etc., is it too much to ask that we catch up with the rest of the world in providing basic facilities for the deaf? None of the above-mentioned companies in the North received special funding in this regard, they are doing this because it should be done.
I congratulate the Abbey Theatre for its intended policy of having signed performances in both the Abbey and Peacock Theatres. I hope that other companies follow this lead, filing systems allowing. - Yours, etc.,
Karl O'Neill, Marlborough Road, Donnybrook, Dublin 4.