Bravi for Braille! Opera becomes more accessible

For Mara Kelland, feeling the opera with her fingers via Braille for the first time was “just the tops”. As a lifelong Braille-user, the introduction of audio description at operas was “the best thing that's happened in quite a long time in my life”. But new technology of Braille surtitles is taking her opera experience to the next level.

If you’re going to an opera, it’s likely the text isn’t in English. Even if it was in a language you were proficient in, sung texts are much harder to understand. So in the 1980s, supertitles – or surtitles – began to appear. Much like TV captioning, surtitles are translated lyrics and dialogue which appear above or to the side of the stage on a screen. But for a long time, these weren’t accessible for the Blind and low vision community. So while you’re hearing the famous La Donna è Mobile, the only meaning you might make out of it is the Tile Depot jingle. 

Kelland has been going to operas since 2004 and was part of Blind Citizens Auckland, advocating for subtitles and accessible programmes at the opera. After much campaigning, Kelland and other members of the community enjoyed a NZ Opera show of Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto last month with the option of Braille surtitles. This is the second time it’s been offered by the NZ Opera.  

While AD provides another way of accessing surtitles, Kelland says, at times, it can feel a bit intrusive. She says you can listen to the music in one ear and descriptions of what’s happening on stage in the other. However, with opera being a hybrid art, “you have music, you have dialogue, you have subtitles, you have AD in your ear. It's just a lot of stuff, and you get a bit of information overload.” 

AD does have its place though, she says. “We need both,” adding that: “you have to be tech literate to do this thing properly and I worry about those who are not.” To access the Braille surtitles, you need to bring your own Braille device and smartphone. With the smartphone, you open a web page which, via Bluetooth, will transmit the text to the Braille display. 

Those we spoke to who attended the show last month said it was simple enough to use. Rebekah Gray used both AD and surtitles, finding them easy to use, despite a connection issue with the AD which was fixed at interval. Gray says: “I would not have gone had the touch tour, Braille and AD not been available.” 

The new technology opens up possibilities beyond opera. Mary Schnackenberg, who also attended the show, says “sighted people often mention subtitles in films. I don’t know how these are produced technically, but that is just one example where Braille access would be inclusive.” Schnackenberg says AD could describe more than what Braille could, while Braille gave the correct spelling of names which AD does not have time to spell out. “And the Braille is a reinforcement of what the AD is saying.” 

Kelland says the more Braille is used the better. She would love to see this technology available in movie theatres too. “But before we get there, let’s get it to other opera companies around the world!”

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