Abstract
Based in theatre studies, this thesis explores the provision and practice of British Sign
Language interpreted musical theatre. It synthesises literature across fields, including musical
theatre, translation, and Deaf studies, to expose how current interpreting approaches may be
failing the Deaf spectator. Central to this is Rocks’ argument that interpreting for theatre ‘is
an undertaking of the audiovisual translation of a multimodal theatrical text, followed by the
simultaneous delivery of the signed rendition, synchronous and co-creating meaning with the
live performance’ (2019a: 1). Building upon this theory, this thesis contributes unique insight
from musical theatre studies about how the resources of the musical theatre production create
additional challenges for the theatre interpreter. Crucially, it identifies dramaturgical
functions of music that are missing for the Deaf spectator and asks how the interpreter might
create a dynamically equivalent target text. Through this, this thesis contributes knowledge
for the commissioner of the interpreted musical and the musical theatre practitioner that will
raise awareness of the shortcomings of interpreted theatre, placing responsibility for
accessible theatre back into the hands of the theatre. For the theatre sign language interpreter,
it raises awareness of the disparity between interpreter training and the task of musical theatre
interpreting. It then offers insight into how to read the musical theatre source text and offers
suggestions of how the interpreter might begin to navigate the complex interplay of resources
within the theatrical text.