Excerpt taken from LondonTheatre1's article that can be found here: 
https://www.londontheatre1.com/theatre-news/fifi-garfield-on-deafinitely-theatre-the-vagina-monologues/

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I think all the monologues have an extra layer of meaning when they are told through BSL. Imagine listening to someone explaining an issue, but then in our production, you can see it, we refer to specific parts of the body, the visual element becomes explicit, which I think is refreshing to see."

It’s a privilege to be able to work in an all-female space where you feel supported and free to explore. I’ve been lucky enough to be involved in this twice in my career – once with Everyday – a play about domestic abuse (this group was all female and non-binary persons). And now here I am again with V’s The Vagina Monologues. Deafinitely Theatre did a production of this play a number of years ago and I was unable to be in it or see it due to a clash of schedules. I was gutted that I couldn’t experience the production. Then, I was delighted they decided to re-stage it in September 2023 at the Hackney Empire for one night only, with 20 women – all volunteer performers. It was an amazing night! So popular. And now, we’re here again for a tour around the UK with 10 deaf women. I can’t wait to put this show on stage again and bring it to new audiences in Birmingham, Sheffield and Exeter.

I hope that our audiences are not only women, but men too. I hope the women in the audience will take away more confidence in being more open about issues affecting them linked to the vagina. They’ll see from this production they’re not the only one that has an issue. They’ll realise they’re not alone. Also, for the men in the audience, I hope they’ll take away more understanding of where we’re coming from and why we react the way we do. Hopefully, they’ll gain a deeper awareness of issues affecting the women in their lives.

I think Deafinitely Theatre’s productions offer a unique perspective as their Artistic Director – Paula Garfield (also my twin sister)– is deaf and completely understands what works well (and what doesn’t work well) on stage for audiences of deaf and hearing people. All Deafinitely’s previous productions are aimed for everyone – deaf people who use British Sign Language (BSL) and those who don’t, hearing people who use BSL and those who don’t. They are bilingual productions with BSL, some spoken English and written English (via captions).

The experience of creating this production is so collaborative. The actors are given space to explore and experiment with the dialogue, content and delivery. This is so unique. I don’t think other mainstream companies offer the same experience. Usually, they are led by a hearing director who tries to integrate one deaf performer into the play and it doesn’t work well. In my opinion, Deafinitely Theatre offers the leading experience for deaf performers and audience members.

By its very nature, BSL is a visual language which enriches the experience of The Vagina Monologues. The play is very visual, it creates beautiful visual pictures that we can represent when performing it on stage. It’s a very fun play, graphic as well as vitally important to start conversations in BSL about the topics covered. I know I enjoyed the collaborative process of translating the monologues back in 2023 when we performed this with a group of 20 performers. I can’t wait to see what this cast will come up with! And how we can portray the monologues on stage as a group together. There was one visual image we created in the 2023 production, all the performers collectively and visually represented a vagina with a beautiful lighting effect…. We needed no words or signs with that moment. It was purely visual. Let’s see if we do that again – watch this space!

I think all the monologues have an extra layer of meaning when they are told through BSL. Imagine listening to someone explaining an issue, but then in our production, you can see it, we refer to specific parts of the body, the visual element becomes explicit, which I think is refreshing to see. I love how we’re signing the title of the play – The Vagina Monologues. We’re doing the BSL sign for ‘vagina’ (which I don’t usually sign very often but in this play I do!) and then we’re doing the sign for “poetry/story” but it’s coming from the position of the ‘vagina’. (That’s very hard for me to describe in English – much easier in a BSL video!). I think signs like this add a richness and physicality to the meaning (that you don’t get in English). Hope you all come along and see it for yourselves to have that visual experience.

I was thrilled with the response to the show back in September 2023. The Hackney Empire was full, and the atmosphere was amazing. So many people came up to me afterwards asking when it would be on again. So here we are taking the play to 3 major cities in the UK. For us, as deaf people, it’s so vital to put plays in BSL on stages around the country to connect with deaf people all over the UK. The deaf community is geographically diverse; there are deaf people all over the UK, and so by us touring to Exeter, Sheffield and Birmingham, we’re able to connect with a wide range of deaf people. We’ll start those all-important conversations. A lot of deaf women will realise they are not alone. And we have an audience – an audience who is committed to watching plays in BSL performed by deaf performers. They see themselves represented on stage – and that is so important.

There’s not enough productions that put BSL centre-stage performed by deaf actors. There is an audience of deaf and hearing people out there who crave more plays and more content. And I don’t mean plays that are interpreted into BSL with a BSL interpreter standing on one side of the stage away from the action. I mean plays presented in BSL with deaf and hearing actors using BSL as the main language on the stage. Having the deaf voice represented is so important. There’s an audience for this. An audience that doesn’t get the chance to come to the theatre that often as they don’t see themselves represented. I’m excited to bring this play to this audience in Exeter, Sheffield and Birmingham.

To be part of a cast of 10 deaf women all performing this play collectively, is a real triumph for me personally. We all support each other in our own monologues and then in the ensemble pieces. I feel proud to be a part of this production. The biggest challenge for me is ensuring that I remember everything in order. There’s a large projection screen on stage with us that is showing live English captions – so if I forget, the audience will know what I’ve missed! Yes, this is a challenge, but one I am enjoying. Also, the live captions give an extra layer of communication as people are able to look between the written English and the BSL and see how we’ve translated the content and how we’re presenting the information. I think that’s great, and it will start many conversations.

I think this production of The Vagina Monologues will make the performers and the audience feel liberated and free. It’s amazing to be in a space to share stories, emotions, feelings and experiences about being women. When do we ever talk about our vaginas as a large collective group? And in BSL? It’s rare but so important for women of any ages to have these conversations.

You can book your tickets for The Vagina Monologues here!

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