Othello Unboud Delivers at SDCS Deaf Childrens Club

Destinations Arts delivers a fun packed session at Sheffield Deaf Children’s Society Youth Club!

As part of the Othello unbound project we worked with children and young people from the Sheffield Deaf Children’s Society Youth Club.

during our first session we had fun exploring characters and emotions. The young people dressed up and engaged in role play around the theme of emotions.  We captured their explorations on video.  the young people were able to watch their  performances and make changes .  They also a chance to see what other young people had been doing on the Othello Unbound project and use some of their ideas in their role play.  This is fantastic signed on of the participants.

During the second session we used clay to create characters based on Othello’s emotions. Young people created green-eyed monsters, and used some of the role play ideas developed in the previous session to create a series of short animations.

 

SDCS Green Eyed Monster
The ‘Green Eyed monster from Othello Vs Bart Simpson

Action Research

The project used action research trial and improvement methods as a way to engage deaf young people in the creative use of digital media.  According to research into the education of Deaf children, there is a lack of opportunity for deaf young people to thrive in mainstream education. The project hoped to address this by providing fun activities in order to kickstart  more prolonged engagements in future.

Issues around getting BSL support during sessions – BSL signers needed to be booked weeks in advance – meant that sessions were not as long or as intensive as originally hoped. However, the young people really enjoyed the sessions and both parents and volunteers commented on the benefits of such activity for the participants.  A member of the reader project group attended the session as was able to share ideas and engage with young people during the session.

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“This has been a really good experience when are you coming back!” A parent

“I’ve really enjoyed today” A participant

“This is fun I like making things with clay. I loved seeing my creature come alive” A participant

“This is my green eyed monster its square with sharp teeth and is really mean!”

“It was a great, I really enjoyed the fact that I got to work with so many deaf young people.  We got to dress up and act things out. I was nervous because I have never worked with young people who can’t hear very well before, but It was a LOT of fun! I ‘d like to do this again!” Reader Project participant

IMG_0868Engaging Young People in Shakespeare.

This activity was part of the Othello Unbound project, which creatively explores Shakespeare’s Othello.  The Othello Unbound project is supported by Sheffield Hallam University and funded by Arts Council England using public money and is delivered by Destinations Arts, a creative initiative that uses digital arts to engage and hard to reach communities in creative activities.