Interview. Pont-Audemer. Actor in sign language, Yoann Robert will translate a show performed this Tuesday at Éclat

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Professional sign language interpreter, Yoann Robert is also an actor in French sign language (LSF) for the ACCES Culture association which works with theaters and operas in France to allow deaf, hard of hearing, blind and visually impaired people to have access to live performance. Last week, a few days before his visit to the Pont-Audemer theater (Eure), the actor gave us an interview.

The Awakening of Pont-Audemer. When you translate a show into sign language, do you have a specific location on stage?

Yoann Robert: “I try to be integrated into the scene as much as possible. Sometimes, I am placed among the actors. I may even wear clothes related to the show and have interactions with the actors. If the stage is smaller and there isn’t too much room, I stand on one side, especially for a dance show where the actors may need space.

In certain situations, if a part of the show does not need to be translated and allows deaf spectators not to look at me, I do not translate and I slip away so that they can watch the show. »

Would you say that in recent years, deaf spectators have been taken into account more in performance venues and on television?

The ACCES Culture association has already existed for several decades. It offers surtitling and audio description to make the live performance accessible.

On TV, since the 1980s, certain television news programs have been translated into sign language. But I note that it is the Covid crisis which has brought greater visibility to the profession of interpreter, in particular with the regular interventions, translated into sign language, of the Minister of Health or the President of the Republic.

Traditionally, only the wishes of the President of the Republic were translated. There was an awareness during Covid to raise awareness among all audiences, unlike the enormous failure of the AIDS epidemic in the 80s, where many deaf people were infected because they had not been informed.

The correlation between dance and sign language

When you’re not on stage, you’re a performer. Concretely, who do you work for?

I have been a sign language interpreter since 2009. It is my full-time job. I work for an interpreter service. We are called by deaf individuals or specialized structures to translate hospital consultations, company meetings, appointments with a notary, university training, etc. I also translate television news for the Télématin show on France 2, the France Info and Infosport channels.

How did you discover sign language?

It was in 2003. It had been on my mind since I was a teenager. However, I don’t have any deaf people around me. After studying biology, I worked as a dancer, actor and puppeteer. I worked with deaf actors and dancing made me sensitive to sign language, which is a gestural language. Being a dancer helps me analyze movements and memorize signs and gestures.

“Salti” show by the Always After Midnight Company, translated into sign language by Yoann Robert, Tuesday, November 12, at 7 p.m., at the Eclat theater in Pont-Audemer. Duration: 50 minutes. From 6 years old. More information on page 22. Prices: €6 to €8, reservation possible online at the ticket office on the Eclat website https://www.ville-pont-audemer.fr/culture/theatre-leclat/billetterie /

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