Theatre captioning goes mobile

This week ACT Government Minister for the Arts and Community Services, Joy Burch and Senator the Hon. Jan McLucas, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Carers hosted the launch of the world’s first theatre captioning application for smartphones and mobile devices, GoTheatrical!, in Canberra.

In a partnership with The Captioning Studio, Canberra Theatre Centre will be the first venue to offer the service for its matinee performance of Summer of the Seventeenth Doll on March 17.

“Canberra Theatre Centre was one of the first venues to adopt live captioning and this advance extends its already extensive commitment to access,” said Burch.

“This advance means that wherever a patron sits in the venue they can access the captions through their own smartphones, and not have to rely on dedicated devices supplied by the theatre,” she said.

Patrons will be able to download the app to their smartphones and mobile devices and easily choose the captioned performance they are attending from a list of available shows.

“This application is a genuine world first, allowing Deaf and hearing impaired patrons to access live theatre captions directly on smartphones and mobile devices when attending captioned performances. We are proud that Canberra Theatre Centre will be among the first venues to implement this technology,” said Burch.

The Captioning Studio launched its theatre captioning technology and service in Australia in 2005 and it is now the only captioning service in venues such as the Sydney Opera House and the Arts Centre in Melbourne.

Co-founder of The Captioning Studio Nari Jennings is thrilled with the announcement, “We are excited about the launch of our latest theatre captioning technology. By offering simultaneous open and and closed captioning in this way, patrons with a hearing loss have a choice as to how they access their theatre captions, and that’s just fantastic! Australia can be proud of the fact that it is leading the world in theatre captioning access.”