Each month we invite an inspirational or outstanding deaf role model to share their story. This can be from what they’ve learnt, to what they wish they’d have known as well as their best deaf tips.
Our role model this month is Paula Garfield MBE. Paula is the Artistic Director and founder of Deafinitely Theatre, the first deaf launched and deaf led theatre company in the UK. She was awarded an MBE for her outstanding contribution to the arts and profound impact on the community. You can watch the full interview in BSL or read the English transcript below.
Please tell us a little about yourself? (career, family, achievements etc.)
Thank you for inviting me to take part in the Deaf Role Model of the month. My name is Paula, and I am the Artistic Director of Deafinitely Theatre. I have been a director for 22 years. I started off as a freelance actor. I worked in theatre, TV and as a presenter for 10 years during the 1990s. There were few opportunities, and it was a struggle to get enough work. I would be lucky to work in a theatre once or twice a year before having a 2-year gap before the next opportunity. It was very irregular work and especially in the 1990s, there were very few opportunities. In the 2000s, around the time when I was 35 years old, I was thinking about my future and my career. I was not academic and did not have A-levels or other qualifications and I wanted to do something practical.
Luckily, I met someone who worked in Arts Council England, and she encouraged me to set up a Deaf theatre company myself. I did not think it was possible because I knew other people who were trying to set something up, but when I reached out to them, nothing seemed to be happening. I was unsure whether I should rely on them or whether I should establish something myself. I was really unsure, but luckily a colleague called Kate Furby was an ally and offered to support me with the application to Arts Council England. I explained my vision, my ideas and story and Kate wrote the application. I had to work out the rough budget for this project and we then sent the application off. We were pleasantly surprised to receive the funding. That was in 2002.
For the next 3 years, we would apply for funding to create specific projects, and after we created them, we would have no more money, and I would find other odd jobs in between. I decided to apply to the Arts Council England to be a NPO (National Portfolio Organisation). I hired someone to write the application because it is a very long application. I sent off the application and I was shocked to find out that we had received a 4-year grant. At the same time, I was pregnant with my first daughter. We decided to go ahead, it was a crazy year. It was 2005 and I set up the company around the same time that I gave birth to my first daughter.
I will be 58 years old in May and when I look back, one of my achievements, of course, must be founding Deafinitely Theatre which has been going for 22 years now. Another achievement are my two beautiful daughters who I am very proud of. I also would like to celebrate my partner, Tom Lichy, for his support through this journey. Although it may seem like it has been smooth sailing, there have been ups and downs. I was awarded an MBE last year in October and met Prince William, shook his hand and had a chat. It was a lovely experience to be in Windsor Castle – truly a one-off experience.
Did you grow up in the Deaf Community or come to it later in life?
I did not grow up in the Deaf Community. I come from a deeply Jewish family, and I had a strict Jewish upbringing. I went to a mainstream school, and attended a deaf unit where communication was primarily oral instead of signing. I was born in 1967, and until 1970 I had only been taught things orally. I did not know any better and I thought that oral education was the only way. I had to learn to speak and lipread, and I thought that was normal. I was ashamed to sign outside. I grew up in London and when I was out walking, or on the tube, I knew that I shouldn’t sign and should speak instead. I believed that signing was less intelligent than speaking. I was not able to speak that well, and only people who knew me very well could understand me. If I spoke to a stranger, they would struggle to understand my speech. I also had a limited vocabulary and there were lots of long words that I couldn’t say. I had to be quite selective in the words that I used and couldn’t have smooth, free-flowing conversations like I can in sign language. When I was older, I moved to a deaf oral school. When I moved to the Deaf school, I was already behind in my education, and I hadn’t been diagnosed as having dyslexia. Later on, I started going to Deaf club and developing my sign language around the age of 15 or 16. It was at Deaf club that I really internalised sign language.
What was your experience of education and higher education as a deaf person?
My experience at school was horrible. That’s why when both my daughters were born, and diagnosed as Deaf, I made sure to focus on teaching them to read early on. At around 1 year old, or 10 months old I started to read books with them in sign language. I started with picture books, showing them words such as “dog” so they would learn to look at the picture and then at me signing the word. Afterwards, I added on emotions, such as the dog being hungry, or being sad. Then, I added vocabulary such as “the dog is running quickly”, or “the dog is running slowly”. This way, my children could absorb language. They were able to learn to read and learn sign language very early on, which gave them a good start in life compared to Deaf children who were born in the 1970s or 1980s. Those generations experienced language deprivation which was terrible. I don’t blame my parents because they did not know any different. Nowadays, deaf and hearing parents know how to teach their children and make sure that they have a good start in life so they can go on to achieve good things.
For Deaf people born in the 1970s, 1980s, or 1990s, there was a strong culture of oralism and a belief that it was the best way to educate deaf people. I went to an oral school. I went to a deaf unit in a mainstream school and the education was very poor. They did not teach us anything. I remember every morning, the teacher would ask us what we had done the day before and then write that on the board. We would copy it off the board and just play the rest of the day. It is true that children learn more through play, but they did not even really teach us writing. We would write for maybe 15 minutes a day. I also remember when the speech therapist came in, it would be very exciting because they would draw pictures and try to get us to make sounds. It was exciting, but it was not proper teaching. At that time, using speech was seen to be more clever than using sign language. It would be embarrassing to sign outside on the bus or tube, and we were not allowed to sign as it was thought to look stupid. This was in the 1970s or 1980s and it was very bad – the attitude was awful.
When I moved to a Deaf school I was overwhelmed because I had previously only been in a Deaf unit, where there were very few of us. Arriving at a Deaf school, there were lots of people signing very confidently and I was amazed. At that time, I was nearly 9 years old, and up until that point, my education had been very poor. I was behind in my education, and I had not yet been diagnosed with dyslexia. I could talk all day about school.
I had very bad experiences with vertigo too. It got worse and worse, especially during secondary school. I would get dizzy spells, faint and I had to stay at home in bed. It felt like everything was moving around me and I had to stay in bed. If I walked around too much, I would throw up – it was really awful. When I left school, my vertigo disappeared. When I look back, and after having done some reading, I have found out that vertigo can be linked to stress. For me, that stress came from secondary school. I wasn’t happy, and I struggled to understand due to my dyslexia. I wasn’t able to take in information. In terms of deaf education, there is not much choice out there. With my two daughters, I searched for schools that would provide teaching in sign language because I believe that education should be in my children’s mother language – which is British Sign Language. Luckily, we found a school that was a good fit. It included sign language, rather than imposing another language on to them. It is really important that education be in sign language, and it has been amazing to see my two daughters thriving compared to many deaf people in the 1970s and 1980s. Many of us have experienced ups and downs, stress and depression. When I left school at 17, I was very depressed.
How did you first get into acting and what was your experience like at the start?
I have been asked by many people how I started acting. At school, I struggled, and I was not academic. In my secondary school, we never were taught drama. I remember before that, when I was in a unit in the mainstream school, we were never taught about writing. People say that learning can take place through play, and I remember that we would role play. For example, we would play that it was one boy’s wedding and dress up. We would decide who was marrying who, who the family all were, and did a lot of playacting. We learned through role play. During the Jewish festivals of Purim or Passover, I would dress up as an old lady. I would borrow my grandfather’s walking stick. I got my first prize for acting like an old lady when I was 7 or 8 years old.
When I was older, I was depressed and mainly stayed at home. I did not go out to party much. I have a twin sister, Fifi, who you might recognise from TV programmes such as Switch, or Sign2Win. Fifi was in a London Deaf Drama group whose name I can’t remember. She invited me to go watch her acting. She told me that she had been practicing her acting. I didn’t know about it before and when I saw them in the Deaf club, I was amazed. I was 18 or 19 years old at the time and the acting fascinated me. I told Fifi that I wanted to get involved and she told me that I had to ask the director. Fifi was surprised because I was normally quiet and stayed at home and now, I was so keen to get involved with this group. She told the director that her sister wanted to join the group; the director seemed unsure. The director said that they would take me under their wing. I remember that moment very clearly. I didn’t know what that expression meant, and it had to be explained to me that it meant they would look after me. That really changed my life.
I was in the Deaf drama group for two years. The group was able to travel to Spain, Israel, and we performed in London. Slowly, I was able to build my confidence. At school I felt like I had failed and that I hadn’t been able to achieve. My teachers would say every day that I was having problems and that they would have to explain things to me again or ask me to sit next to them so they could re-explain what they had taught. I cried a lot in school – every day I would cry because I couldn’t cope. However, in the drama group, I felt confident. People would come up to me and tell me that they had enjoyed watching me and that I was fantastic. I found it very difficult to accept their compliments – I had never had them before. I always dismissed them as rubbish for years until my partner and my sister, Fifi, said that it was rude. It was rude to dismiss these compliments, and I should accept them. I struggled to change but started to accept compliments. Now, when people give me praise, I can thank them. However, at that time, because of my experiences of school, I thought that I was rubbish. That’s why it’s important to make sure that everyone has a good start in life as this will affect you for the rest of your life. That is why I taught my two daughters to read and write and exposed them to lots of different education so that they would have that confidence.
Photo credit: Becky Bailey
I was involved in the London Deaf drama group for two years and really enjoyed myself in the group. I loved being on stage and wanted to pursue it professionally, but it was the 1980s and I had no role models. I went to a friend’s party, and I met Caroline Parker and when I asked her what she did for work, she told me that she was an actor. I was very intrigued and asked her how she managed this. We spent all day talking and she told me about her experiences and how she got started. I was amazed. I looked around for an acting course because I was not like Caroline who can speak – I did not use my voice, and I was not confident that my speech would be clear enough to go to a hearing acting course. I gave up on the search and got a job in a day centre for older people. I remember my mum looked for work for me, and she had to try hard and persuade people before I was offered anything. My salary was half that of other staff, and the government would top it up so that I would earn the same as the rest. I was the only Deaf staff member, and that’s why they felt my value as a staff member was only half that of my colleagues. I worked there for two years, and my depression got worse and worse. I was going to the drama group at the same time, which was great, but when I went to work, I would feel depressed. I did not know what my future would look like. My good friend, Olivia, told me about a theatre course for Deaf people in Reading College. I was really interested. At the time, you had to send a letter by post and wait for a response by post. I was invited to audition – I didn’t know what the word “audition” meant, and I was told that it meant that they would assess and see whether I would be right for the course. I travelled to Reading and they explained what I needed to do for the audition and how to prepare. I practiced a poem to perform on stage, and I was offered a place. This was very exciting and changed my life. This Deaf drama course was a pilot one-year foundation course. It was not much but it changed me. After I finished the course, I left and I was out of work for two years until I got an acting job with a school, touring around. After three months, I was out of work again. I would be in and out of work like this for ten years until I decided to set up Deafinitely Theatre, which I have been running for 22 years now.
You set up Deafinitely Theatre in 2002, the first deaf-launched and deaf-led theatre company in the UK, what did you hope to achieve that other theatre companies were not?
I set up Deafinitely Theatre in 2002 and at that time there were very few Deaf actors. There were maybe 5 – less than 10 Deaf actors. There were a mix of actors who communicated orally and with sign language. There were also very few hearing actors who could sign – maybe only 5. When I set up the company, some deaf people did not understand the point of setting it up, but I was determined. The first night that we performed, the audience was completely full. Every show was completely full. It was clear that Deaf audiences and the Deaf community had a real thirst and a real interest in watching these shows. In the olden days, all the Deaf Clubs would have drama performances. As Deaf clubs closed over the years, it meant that there were less opportunities to go and watch Deaf performances. In London, there were a lot of shows for hearing people, with captions or with a BSL interpreter in the corner, but Deaf people couldn’t relate. They wanted to see Deaf stories, in sign language, that represented their community. As I said before, the shows we put on were always full, and that’s why I was lucky to get 4 years of funding as a NPO (National Portfolio Organisation) from Arts Council England. They recognised that our work was important and that we always had full audiences.
You’ve mentioned before that your next mission is to encourage more deaf directors, deaf writers and deaf creatives. What would your advice be to those wanting to join the industry?
Deafinitely Theatre has had a strong influence. People are excited because there are lots of Deaf actors on stage who have become role models and are inspiring people to take part. It is the same experience that I had when I watched Fifi on stage. Lots of people are being inspired to take part. Over the last 20 years, the number of Deaf actors has increased to over 100, including those who sign and those who speak. If you include hearing actors who can sign, that has also grown significantly – there must be 150, 200. There are no exact figures, but it is a huge increase compared to 20 years ago. That influence has been great, but in terms of backstage roles, such as stage manager, lighting design, costume design, set design, production managers, producers, directors, writers – there is a real lack of Deaf people in these roles. The reason is that these roles are invisible. Actors can be seen and can inspire other people to want to be like them, but other roles are more invisible.
In the last 2 years I have been promoting for there to be more Deaf writers, directors and all the other roles. We have received funding to set up a series called Deaf Theatre Makers this year. The aim will be to meet every few weeks to learn more about different roles such as producer, director and learn about what they do and how to do it. They will also get to have an insight into the behind the scenes of a theatre play. Next weekend, they will be learning about the role of stage manager and what it means. There is only one Deaf stage manager in the whole of the UK, and we need to encourage more people to develop into this role over the next 10 years. We would also like to encourage Deaf people to lead their own projects. We would like Deaf people to be able to realise their vision and tell their own stories and put on their own plays, much in the same way that BSL Zone and Lumo TV have been a medium for raising the profile of Deaf writers and directors. We would like the same to happen in the theatre domain. It is vital for Deaf people to lead. With Deafinitely Theatre I was the founder and leader and could bring my artistic vision, but we want more examples of that all over the place. There is some of this in Scotland, but I would like to see more Deaf people establishing themselves. It is important for plays to represent and be led by Deaf people themselves.
What ways do you think hearing people can be allies to the deaf community? Any DOs and DON’Ts?
Talking about allies… Deafinitely Theatre was set up with Kate Furby. Without her it would have been impossible to move Deafinitely Theatre forward. Filling out long forms or applications require written English – you need to know how to fill them in, how to explain a narrative. I had the vision and could explain it in BSL but putting it on paper was impossible for me. Now, with 20 years of experience I have learned how to write these types of things. I’ve learned how to video myself explaining what I want to say in BSL and send it to a BSL interpreter who will watch the video, write up what I have signed and then send this to my team. My team are amazing – I am so grateful. It’s thanks to my team – they lead and support my vision, and they are my allies. It is important for all hearing allies to encourage Deaf people. I feel up until now that some hearing people who can sign mean well, but they need to hand over to Deaf people to lead for themselves. They need to encourage Deaf people in their visions, their stories, their ideas, not just say ‘I will do it for you’. This is dangerous because how can Deaf people learn if someone is doing everything for them? If that person who has been supporting them then moves house or changes job, the Deaf person will be lost.
I think it is important for Deaf people to learn to say no to hearing people who want to do things for them. If you have an idea or vision – you should lead it. Of course, hearing people can support you – they can write down what you want and then you can then read what they have written approve it or make changes if you disagree with what was written. For me, I hate budgets! But luckily for me I have a good team. We look at the budget together, discuss fees and work out how much the budget should be. I think it’s important for hearing allies to encourage Deaf people to lead, and to be behind them, supporting them as they progress – not the other way around with the hearing person leading and the Deaf person supporting them. And not side by side working together either – the deaf person should be the leader.
3 top tips for deaf people? (e.g. everyday life/learning/communicating/ socialising/travelling etc.)
My advice for deaf people who want to achieve their dreams: Go for it! Yes, I was lucky that I was in the right time and the right place, but I didn’t know that at the time. I just followed my gut – I felt I should do something, so I did and carried on doing it. If an opportunity comes up for you – grab it! Don’t wait for a better time because it will never happen again. What even is “the best time”? At the time that I was given 4 years funding by Arts Council England, I had also just given birth! My life was totally chaotic, but I was determined, I told myself that I could do it and kept moving forwards. Of course, the journey has had its ups and downs. It wasn’t perfect and it wasn’t a bed of roses. There was no red carpet rolled out for me. I had to be prepared to roll up my sleeves and work really hard – there was lots of sweat, not enough sleep, lots of crying, lots of anger and frustration. But that is fine – that’s allowed! It’s part of the process of achieving your goal.
People look at what you have achieved now and think the journey there must have been easy. Not at all – the journey was difficult, with many barriers and frustrations mixed in with moments of happiness, and then more barriers and more frustrations. This pattern repeats itself again and again. That is normal! Don’t give up. I’ve been there myself – I have wanted to give up many times. My partner would talk to me, support me, until I would feel like I could do it and carry on. Remember, there are always positives and a light at the end of the tunnel. You’ll be moving along that dark tunnel and there will be moments of light that keep you moving forwards. And at the end there will be a huge, positive light! Remember that famous or successful people haven’t had easy lives either. They will have struggled to get to their success. My advice is – don’t give up and keep going!
To read more inspirational role model interviews, take a look here. If you would like to be an ally to the deaf community and learn sign language, check out our courses here.
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