Audio Description in Puppet Theatre for Children – a Case Study

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to review existing guidelines and strategies for AD in children’s theatre and to prepare an accessible visit for visuallyimpaired children to a puppet theatre. Taking under consideration the complexity of Plastusiowy pamiętnik (Plastuś’ Diary) the performance chosen to be audio described, we decided to create an audio introduction, AD script and a touch-tour prior to the spectacle. We believed that in such a way children could enjoy the play to the same extent as the sighted audience do. Our intention was to find out how to describe the convention of puppet theatre as well as to reach the balance between the abundance of stimuli in the play and information that should be delivered in the AD script, without breaking the suspension of disbelief.

Keywords

• audiovisual translation
• audio description
• accessibility
• puppet theatre for children
• audio introduction