Meet Bristol’s theatrical Paralympics signer

Poet, dancer, actor, film producer. David Ellington is a modern-day cultural polymath who has most recently become something of an internet sensation thanks to his extravagant sign language performance in the trailer for the Channel Four coverage of the Rio 2016 Paralympics. 

Since being uploaded to YouTube in July, the trailer has been viewed almost 150,000 times:

David has cycled the short distance from his home in Hotwells to meet Bristol24/7 at the Watershed.

He has worked here in a professional capacity during a six-month residency funded by Arts Council England’s Agent for Change programme, in which he was tasked with improving the venue’s inclusivity and accessibility for the deaf community.

The Watershed now hosts Deaf Conversations About Cinema, an informal event where deaf or hard-of-hearing customers can come together to talk about film. The bar staff have also learnt some basic phrases in British Sign Language (BSL).

He informs me that once our interview is finished, he’ll be trying stand-up paddle boarding for the first time, to which I suggest he swap his glass of water for some Dutch courage.

David is profoundly deaf and communicates with me through an interpreter. He introduces himself through his sign name; like a regular nickname, which involves a personalised piece of sign language.

David’s involves placing the back of your hand on your forehead and spreading the fingers. “It was assigned to me by a group of deaf kids I used to work with back in the 1990s who said my spiky hair resembled the statue of liberty,” he explains.

His career in sign-acting began somewhat accidentally. Around 1997, during his work at a deaf school, he was asked to fill in for a role in a Shakespeare adaption.

“I was Brutus in Julius Caesar, but it was adapted for a deaf audience,” he says. “So it was all in sign language; very visual. But being on the stage was amazing, I really enjoyed it.

“And it was that night somebody based in London asked if I had any acting talent. I said I didn’t think so, and they said, ‘well actually, I think you’ll find we really want you to be involved in something’.”

What followed was employment at the BBC presenting educational programming through BSL. His first brush with the Paralympics came in 2012, where he performed on six-metre high sway poles for the opening ceremony of the London games.

However, it was during a stint as a back-up dancer for a Smirnoff advert when David caught the eye of director Dougal Wilson, who asked him whether he would like to feature on Channel 4’s new trailer for Rio. 

“I was offered the part, without fully knowing what it entailed. I then had to go to the Channel 4 HQ for a meeting to talk about the creative idea behind it, and it was then I thought, ‘oh my god I’m on to something special here’.

“It was really amazing. Often you have an in-vision interpreter which is very static, just stood in the corner, but they said they wanted it to be far more interactive; they wanted the interpreter to be a part of the advert.”

For anyone who has seen the video, you will know there is no risk of David’s performance being mistaken for your regular sign interpretation. The periphery of the screen acts as David’s canvas, as he dips in and out of disciplines, in an eclectic blend of lyric interpretation, sporting motions and dance. 

“The most challenging part of the advert was continuity, because as you will see there were so many costume changes, and I had to almost freeze the movement of the particular lyric I was signing at the time. I won’t reveal my age, but I’m not as young as I used to be, so physically, it was demanding. But yes I can! I did it and it felt amazing.”

“Yes I can” are the Sammy Davis Jr lyrics which run throughout the video, crooned by the all-disabled rat pack-style band the Team GB athletes. In these lyrics we find the ethos that director Dougal Wilson and his crew were trying to encompass, in which athletes, performers and organisers look to defy the barriers placed upon them within society.

In one of the most inspiring scenes, we see a teacher talking down to a young schoolboy in a wheelchair. “No you can’t,” he mutters. The boy’s shoulders are stooped, head down.

In the next sequence, the boy has grown into an athlete, and storms towards the camera in his wheelchair, ball in hand, before smashing into a fellow competitor. 

“I think the most important message, particularly for a younger generation, is that they are generally told they can’t do something,” David says. “Lots of the time, if you’re differently-abled you will find parents and teachers often limit you, or think you can’t do something, when actually, yes you can do it.

“Society just needs to think differently, society needs to change its mind set. So I think it’s really powerful in that way. I think that can be really empowering.”

According to a government poll, in 2015 the disabled employment rate sat at 46.7 per cent. For non-disabled people, it was 80.3 per cent. In order to reduce this deficit, and encourage opportunities for disabled people, David believes greater dialogue needs to be established, with a more understanding society that distances itself from umbrella terms.

“Many of the people I’ve worked with, they may not have certain limbs so they may need a carer, they may need support in a certain context, but once they are enabled, they really can do anything”.

This notion of limitation is still very much prevalent in David’s own craft of acting and stage work, with both the education and enrollment process filled with complications. He told me of the difficulties that he found as a deaf actor entering the industry.

“I would say there are more opportunities for deaf people, but there are definite barriers. Particularly in relation to studying. If you want to apply for a drama school you are responsible for finding your own interpreter, or comms support. And you need to have that pretty much 24/7 as part of the course – the organisations won’t fund this.”

David says that a lack of funding can prevent disabled actors from entering drama schools, which may lead to them pursuing alternative, less-established education routes.

“I’ve been recommended quite a few times to alternative ‘crash courses’, but again it all depends how accessible they are. I would have to be very proactive in advance to say ‘OK, I’m a deaf person, therefore we need to start thinking about interpreters and how I access this curricula’.”

Thankfully, positive changes are occurring daily. Organisations such as Graeae Theatre Company or VS1 Productions, a media company co-founded by David, create deaf-led creative projects, featuring deaf performers.

The company also produces documentaries, and provides consultancy and training workshops. Through VS1 and his personal work, David looks to act as a facilitator in the careers of young deaf performers, ensuring they possess the skills they require to fill his shoes in the future.

When he isn’t being launched into the air on sway poles, David’s feet remain firmly on the ground. He expresses his lack of interest in movies or the West End, and how instead he looks to promote the communication between deaf and non-deaf people. 

“I want to continue to fight for the BSL Act, and for sign language to be properly recognised – for it not to be such a fight, so a hearing person can respond to a deaf person.

“In Italy, people are far more gesticulative in nature, it’s part of their culture. We tend to be more reserved here in the UK. The moment you say you’re deaf, the hearing person disappears, and you’re left wondering if you have some sort of bad body odour you should be worrying about.”

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