Sometimes you have to go through hell to find your bliss...
Clerc’s Inferno is a ferocious and funny exploration of the roots of Sign Language through an unlikely friendship and a forbidden romance — a story about how hard it can be to follow your inner voice.
Here’s a glimpse:
If you want to see more, we made a short documentary about the translation process of the play (which received quite a bit of praise).
Story Summary
In 1817, a French Deaf teacher, Laurent Clerc, and a hearing reverend, Thomas Gallaudet, triumph over prejudice and ignorance to create a revolutionary school for the Deaf, the first of its kind in America. The entire enterprise is brought to the brink of collapse when Clerc finds himself inexorably drawn into a romance deemed immoral by everyone including, perhaps, himself. Based on a true story.
A ferocious, poignant, funny chronicle of the genesis of American Sign Language and an unlikely friendship, told in a dazzling combination of Sign & English.
Though the play takes place in 1817, the debate featured in it, over sign language based education vs oral education for the Deaf, rages on today, imperilling the success of Deaf children around the world.
Development history
In 2019, Arts Council England and the Wiener Philanthropy Fund generously supported two research and development workshops of Clerc’s Inferno (then called Movements of the Soul) within six months of each other, the second of which was held at the Bush Theatre. Both R&Ds were performed in British Sign Language.
The script received extensive development in New York City, where it had workshops supported by HERE Arts Center, New York Theatre Workshop (RENT, ONCE), the Sherry and Robert Wiener Philanthropy Fund, the Emily Rechnitz Family Fund, and the Lena and George Minkoff Family Fund. CLERC’S INFERNO (as MOS) has also been supported by Baruch Performing Arts Center, LaGuardia Community College ASL-English program and Deaf studies, Lexington School for the Deaf, and Shakespeare & Co. in Lenox, Massachusetts.
Dreamatorium Theatre is currently gathering partners and raising funds to mount a full production of CLERC’S INFERNO in the UK.
PRAISE
“It is an amazing, awe-inspiring, mammoth work... your play is about hope, freedom, identity, understanding, bridging worlds, connection...”
—Kelly Masterson
writer SNOW PIERCER,
BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD
writer SNOW PIERCER,
BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU’RE DEAD
“This play could win a Pulitzer Prize as well as a Tony.”
—Dan Lauria
Lombardi in Broadway’s LOMBARDI
Dad on THE WONDER YEARS
Financial supporter of Clerc’s Inferno
Lombardi in Broadway’s LOMBARDI
Dad on THE WONDER YEARS
Financial supporter of Clerc’s Inferno
“I truly enjoyed your play and found the premise fascinating. A complicated effort, well done.”
—David Platt
Co-exec producer LAW & ORDER SVU (2008-2010)
Financial supporter of Clerc’s Inferno
Co-exec producer LAW & ORDER SVU (2008-2010)
Financial supporter of Clerc’s Inferno
"You deserve so many accolades. You have done such amazing work on our play! I am proud to be associated with it.”
—the late Jeff Ash
Broadway Producer
Co-producer of Clerc’s Inferno (in NYC)
Broadway Producer
Co-producer of Clerc’s Inferno (in NYC)
“Congratulations on a stunning achievement with Movements Of The Soul! Beautiful work!”
—Bob Jaffe
Board Chair, Ensemble Studio Theater (EST), NYC
Board Chair, Ensemble Studio Theater (EST), NYC
TEAM
CAST (in alphabetical order)
CREATIVE
Previous London R&Ds
CAST
Hermon Berhane, Michael Bertenshaw, Natalia Campbell, Alim Jadavji, Durassie Kiangangu, Zoë McWhinney, Amy Melley, Caroline Parker, Julian Peedle-Calloo, Raphael Von Blumenthal.
CREATIVE
Carol Schneider, Joe Cacaci, Rodrigo Jorge, Deepa Shastri, Christopher Tester, Luna Tosin, Gabriela Jorge, Craig Leo, Adam Jay-Price, Nadia Nadarajah, Robert Adam, Paul Burgess, Rike Berg, Hanne Schulpé, Aeron Donnelly Jackson, Thiago “Trosso” Jorge, Angelo Utrabo, Spencer Browne, Rosie Benn.
SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETERS
Susan Booth, Chris Curran, Helen Fallows, Sula Gleeson, Anna Kitson, Bill Moody, Rose Lennnon, Louise Mitcham, Lucy Okeeffe, Alison Pottinger, Caroline Richardson, Jo Ross, Sumayya Si-Tayeb, Akbar Sikder, Tobe St Clair, Natasha Trantom, Adele Ward, Bev Wilson, Kathy Yeoman.
THANKS
Past Supporters
Arts Council England, Emily Rechnitz, Robert Wiener & Wiener Family Foundation.
Alan Kingsberg & the Kingsberg Family Foundation, Dan Lauria, Laurie Leonard & Stephan McCarthy, George Minkoff & the Lewis & Lena Minkoff Foundation, Sandy Newman, Diane & David Platt, Suzi Randolf, Gina Deutsch-Zakarin & Mark Zakarin, John Whalan & Black Ice Mass Media.
Advisors
Marguerite Andro, Candace Broecker, Frank Dattolo, Ken Davenport, Lawrence Elman, Judith James, Bill Moody, Sandy Newman, John Whalan.
Acknowledgements
Gary Wait & The American School for the Deaf, Baruch Performing Arts Center, David Chu & C2 Captions, Gallaudet University, Paula Garfield & Deafinitely Theatre, HERE Arts Center, Robert Hills & Deaf Studies Program @ LaGuardia Community College, Lexington School for the Deaf, Library of Congress, Joe Danisi & Naked Angels, Linda Chapman & New York Theatre Workshop, Govane Lohbauer & Shakespeare & Co., Yale University Library.
Hilary Baack, Sherman Beattie, Aneta Besecker, Emily Comisar, Stephanie Cannon, Silas Carson, Joe Cassidy, Samuel Caraballo, Thomas DellaMonica, Caroline Devlin, Stephanie Feyne, Marcie Friedman, Craig Fogel, Richard Gant, Mellie Garcia, Monique Holt, Joyce Hom, Miriam Horowitz, Bob Jaffe, Stephanie Jane, Mechelle Lassiter, Guilherme Lepca, George Mann, John McGinty, Lewis Merkin, Geoffrey Nauffts, Jordan Lage, Tanya O’Brien, Ben Ringham, Jame Rose, Alan Rothstein, Claire Saddleton, Ethan Sinnott, Neil Sprouse, Brooke Tibbs, Shukree Hassan Tilghman, Lauren Vaicels, Alexandria Wailes, Jennifer Ward, Eric Webb, Annie Wiegand, Michael Wikes, Anatol Yusef.
GET INVOLVED
We are proud to be supported by organisations that champion Sign Language education.
Below you will find donation links for each of them.
You can help them make a change.
You can help them make a change.
“The British Deaf Association (BDA) is supportive of the production, Clerc’s Inferno. Since 1890, the BDA has been the UK’s leading Deaf People’s Organisation standing for Deaf Equality, Access and Freedom of Choice (DEAF). Our primary goal is to achieve a legal status for British Sign Language (BSL).”
The history behind Clerc as the first outstanding Deaf teacher in the USA who championed the rights of Deaf people to use sign language is the story of the oppression foisted upon, and experienced by Deaf people. The drama within the play foreshadows a movement by an elitist group of hearing people who promoted the Oral Method while succeeding in effectively banning the use of sign language from Deaf education. This had a significant, long-lasting and damaging effect on Deaf people’s lives as we have struggled to live our lives within a language that we are comfortable with. The BDA endorses the play which we believe will transform people’s perceptions and enable them to realise that sign language is vital to the lives of Deaf children and young people and their future.
For more information visit: bda.org.uk
“DTOD is fully supportive of the production of Clerc’s Inferno. As a group of deaf teachers we are passionate about Deaf Education and language access for deaf children, particularly through sign language, and the history behind this is so important as is portrayed in the play. For this reason, DTOD endorses the play for a full production which will appeal to so many people in both the deaf and hearing communities, as well as emphasise the importance of sign language in deaf education.”
For more information visit: deafteachers.co.uk
“Signed Culture mission is to support BSL access to the Arts, so obviously we see the importance of BSL in performance, and therefore in life itself.
We see it as vital that this production is given the support it needs and deserves, in order that the world can witness a slice of Deaf history, see how sign languages are necessary for the Deaf to truly feel free with their language use - to express themselves with accuracy, authenticity, creativity and confidence.”
For more information visit: signedculture.org.uk