BSL in Performance Facilitators

Paula Garfield

course leader & bsl translation

Paula Garfield, MBE is the Artistic Director of Deafinitely Theatre as well as an actor, director and field creative leader. In 2002, she established Deafinitely Theatre with an aim to create more opportunities for deaf actors and creatives in theatre industry.

Paula has produced and directed many plays. Her  productions for Deafinitely Theatre include: Love’s Labour’s Lost as part of Deafinitely’s 10th anniversary celebrations, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Shakespeare’s Globe, Contractions (2017), 4.48 Psychosis (2019), Everyday (2023), The Vagina Monologues (2023) as well as The Vagina Monologues Revival in 2025, The Promise (2024), and Barrier(s) (2025).

Gavin Lilley

character comedy

Gavin Lilley is a Deaf comedian, host and BSL consultant-translator known for his sharp visual storytelling and commanding stage presence. He has performed alongside some of the UK’s biggest mainstream comedy names, bringing big-room energy and authentic Deaf humour to diverse audiences nationwide. Beyond the stage, Gavin works as a communication consultant, championing Deaf leadership, inclusion and sign language across training, media and live events.  

Jenny Sealey

actors choice

Jenny Sealey OBE has been Graeae’s Artistic Director since 1997. She has pioneered a new theatrical language-‘aesthetics of artistic access’ embedding BSL, creative captioning and audio description into the heart of all productions. Her work includes peeling, Blasted, Diary of an Action Man, punk musical Reasons to be Cheerful, opera Paradis Files, Romeo and Juliet and her one woman show Self Raising. Outdoor productions include Against the Tide; The Iron Man; The Garden, and This Is Not For You 14-18Now with disabled veterans. International work includes Blood Wedding (Japan), Romeo and Juliet (Japan and Bangladesh),The Tempest (Japan, Bangladesh and UK). Her 2025 play Bad Lads by Mike Kenny and Jimmy Coffey about Margaret Thatcher’s Short Sharp Shock regime received 5 star reviews as a crucial part of UK living history.

Jenny co-directed the London 2012 Paralympic Opening Ceremony alongside Bradley Hemmings (GDIF). She won the Liberty Human Rights Arts Award. 

Raffie Julien

dance

Raffie Julien is a dynamic deaf actor, dancer, BSL and movement director from Manchester. Her work spans stage and screen, where she brings powerful storytelling, physical precision, and an unmistakable presence.

Screen credits include Ariana in A Hand Rises (A Hand Rises Ltd), Jade in Coffee Morning Club (Mutt and Jeff Pictures), Amy in Trinity (Tilt Films), Esther in Jerk (RoughCut TV) and Heather in Clink (Five Star).

Stage roles include Mish in Waldo’s Circus of Magic and Terror (UK Tour), Raffie in Follow the Signs (Soho Theatre), Weft in The Emperor’s New Clothes (Derby Theatre/Polka Theatre), Gem in Treasure Island (Derby Theatre), Ismene in Antigone (Storyhouse Theatre, Chester), The Shade in Upon the Stair (UK Tour), Cathy 2 in The Last 5 Years (Welsh Tour) and Lass in Tommy (UK Tour).

As a creative, Raphaella has worked as Movement Director on Barrier(s) (Deafinitely Theatre), Movement Director and BSL Consultant on Stig (Grosvenor Park Open Air Theatre), BSL Director on The Hunchback of Notre Dame (NYMT) and BSL Presenter/Narrator for Josephine (The Egg, Bath).

Her background in dance includes performing in The Michael Jackson Show (Crete) and appearing as Dancer and Narrator in the Vogue Ball Documentary.

In 2022, Raphaella was honoured with the Deaffest Best Actress Award for her moving performance in the short film Lost, Taken, Murdered.

Zoë McWhinney

visual vernacular

Zoë McWhinney (sign name: curly. Pronouns: she/they) is a sign language poet and Visual Vernacular performer born to Deaf father and CODA mother in south east London. They performed at renowned venues, including The Roundhouse, City of Birmingham Symphony and Orchestra, The British Academy, Barbician Centre, Wellcome Collection and Glastonbury Festival. Zoë also worked as writer, and made a groundbreaking stage adaptation of Ilya Kaminsky’s Deaf Republic poems for Royal Court theatre last autumn that went on to show in Dublin Theatre festival.

In between performances and readings, Zoë works to foster spaces and opportunities for creativity in visual language for deaf communities in the UK through workshops (ranging from communal afternoon teas to prestigious theatre academic institutions such as the Royal Central school of Speech and Drama, and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and festivals such as Deaffest, Celtic Deaf festival and Flarewave festival) and open-stage evenings such as the Dancing Elephants in Rotherhithe, London. 

Known internationally as her Instagram alter-ego “rapuznel,” she shares her art as a Visual Vernacular (VV) performer in various shows and competitions online and offline. Beyond UK, She has been invited to perform her VV stories around the globe from Oslo, Norway; Piran, Slovenia and the United Nations headquarters in Geneva — Reims, France to Osaka, Japan.  

William Grint

shakespeare in bsl

William has worked extensively within the world of Shakespeare as an actor, consultant, and director.

Most recently, he was involved in Romeo and Juliet for The Globe’s Playing Shakespeare Production, as the performing interpreter - having interpreted multiple characters within the production.

Theatre credits include: Antony and Cleopatra (Shakespeare’s Globe) Midsummer Night Dream (Shakespeare North); As You Like It (Shakespeare’s Globe); The Tempest (Globe’s Playing Shakespeare); Macbeth (Globe’s Playing Shakespeare); The Comedy of Errors (RSC/Barbican); The Process (Bunker Theatre); 4.48 Psychosis (Diorama Theatre/Deafinitely Theatre); Sirens (ZooCo Theatre - UK Tour); The Who's Tommy (Theatre Royal/Stratford East and UK Tour); Imogen (Shakespeare’s Globe); Blackout (Tricycle Theatre); A Midsummer Night's Dream (New Diorama); The Ritual and The Beauty Manifesto (Soho Theatre).

William can also be seen in The RSC's production of A Winter's Tale, produced in partnership with BBC/Harper Collins, as well as a presenter for the BBC'S SEE HEAR: On Tour on various episodes.

Further television credits include: The Read (BBC 4), This Country, (BBC 3), Casualty (BBC), and numerous short films.

William won the Best Actor award for Strangers at Clin D'Oeil International Festival in 2013 and Best Director for AVA at Deaffest in 2019.

Cherie Gordon

laban efforts

Cherie Gordon is an actor, director and writer based in South East London. She graduated from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in 2020 with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Drama and Applied Theatre.

Her TV and film credits include the BBC’s Reunion, BBC’s Boat Story, I Still Blame Myself (Deafinitely Theatre), Listen (BFI Film Academy), Echoes (Brighton Screen and Film School).

Her theatre credits include Nine Sixteenths (Brixton House), Romeo and Juliet (Graeae Theatre), Mother of the Revolution (Archipelago Art Theatre), Scenes of RENT (Curve Theatre) Precious Emily (Stans Cafe), Everyday (Deafinitely Theatre). Additionally, her directing credit include Bossy (Zo Co Theatre Company).

Charlotte Arrowsmith

improv and characterisation

Charlotte Arrowsmith is an actor, director, drama facilitator and creative BSL consultant working across stage and screen. She has collaborated with companies including the Royal Shakespeare Company, Shakespeare’s Globe and National Theatre, championing Deaf-led storytelling and authentic representation.

An Associate Artist and Learning Practitioner with the RSC, Charlotte brings a collaborative and playful approach to actor training, encouraging creativity, spontaneity and confidence. Her work focuses on visual storytelling, connection and ensemble work, creating an inclusive space where participants can explore bold choices and develop their own creative voice.

Robin Hellier

stage combat

Robin Hellier is a Fight & Intimacy Director for stage, screen and motion capture, and is a certified Teacher with the British Academy of Dramatic Combat.

Recent credits include: Little Shop of Horrors (Derby Theatre and Northern Stage), The Three Musketeers (Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre), Sweeney Todd (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland), The Crowning of Poppea (Hampstead Garden Opera), REVENGE: After the Levoyah (Soho Theatre London, UK tour),  Lear, Sunshine on Leith, The 39 Steps, Grease, The Great Gatsby and A Streetcar Named Desire (Pitlochry Festival Theatre), and Romeo & Juliet and The Merry Wives of Wishaw (Bard in the Botanics).

He teaches dramatic combat at drama schools including East 15, ArtsEd and MetFilm School London, and runs training courses across the UK.

Ted Evans

acting on camera

Ted Evans is a BIFA & BAFTA nominated writer-director, who was selected as one of Screen International's 2025 Stars of Tomorrow. His debut feature premiered at the 50th Toronto International Film Festival and is currently being screened at international festivals all over the world - including LFF, Zurich International Film Festival and São Paulo International Film Festival.