KT Tunstall Scores BSL-Led Gig Theatre at Dundee Rep
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- The Singer, directed by Cora Bissett, is a new gig theatre production staged by Dundee Rep and Solar Bear, with songs by KT Tunstall under musical director Michael John McCarthy
- Jamie Rea plays Joe, a Deaf BSL speaker who experiences music through a Subpac vibration device and teams up with street busker Andy (Dylan Wood) to write songs together
- During the show the house lights come up so the cast can teach the audience to sign the chorus of Tunstall's "Find My Feet" — described in the review as a feelgood morale booster suited to a children's film soundtrack
- Set designer Jenny Booth built the staging so written, spoken, and signed languages are simultaneously available, underlining the production's points about the exclusion of d/Deaf people and the lower status given to BSL culture
- Hannah Jarrett-Scott and Peter Dobre play Andy's grandparents; the review singles out Jarrett-Scott for giving Tunstall's songs a soulful vocal lift alongside Wood's earthy singer-songwriter delivery
Why it matters: By making three languages available at once and getting the room signing a chorus together, the production turns a Deaf-led creative partnership into a shared, accessible theatre experience — a model of inclusion that the review notes the mainstream music industry rarely extends to BSL users.
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