CAPE TOWN - The popular music and cultural festival InniBos Laeveld Kunstefees which takes place annually in Nelspruit in Mpumalanga is set for a different take on things when it will see the deployment of two professional sign language interpreters to make some of the performances accessible to a deaf audience for the first time.

The annual InniBos Laeveld Kunstefees attracts over 100,000 patrons each year and is taking place from 1-4 July.

The theme for this year’s festival, now in its 12th year, is “InniBos - the festival with a heart.”

Over 350 artists, including Mango Groove, Kurt Darren, Sandra Prinsloo, Gys de Villiers, Willem Boshoff, Zondi Skosana, Antjie Krog and Mannini Mokhothu are set to showcase their talents and works at the festival.

And the deaf audience are set to be able to participate more fully for the first time thanks to the services of sign language interpreters Marsanne Selzer and Petri du Toit.

In a joint partnership between InniBos, Jazz Hands -Signs of a Language and from the hip: khulumakhale (FTH:K), 50 tickets have been made available to members of deaf communities from Johannesburg, Pretoria and Nelspruit to attend the festival.

“I am very excited about this event, and seeing how excited the deaf community is about attending the festival, as many of them have never been to the theatre at all,” Selzer told African News Agency (ANA).

Selzer is the founder and director of Jazz Hands - Signs of a Language that focuses on making theatre and other events accessible to the deaf community.

Among the shows which will have sign language interpreters on duty are a new production, “Die Waarser” created by writer Barry van Rensburg, the Woorde Inntuin programme in which distinguished poet, Antjie Krog will recite her poetry as well as the work of deaf poet, Tebu Mokhali.

Throughout the festival, big screens are set to broadcast a special sign language choreography during a number of performances.

“InniBos decided to break the sound barrier for a deaf audience by making the festival accessible this year,” Selzer said. “InniBos wants to open the art world to the deaf and hard of hearing members of our community, to become the first accessible Afrikaans Arts Festival.”

Selzer said that InniBos would be showing the festival’s accessibility to the deaf audience by kicking off the festival with the official greeting which would be “the international sign for ‘I Love You’ in sign language.”

Many people, she said, “are fascinated to see sign language in action, however, we want to show that deaf people also enjoy what everyone else enjoys - good theatre.”

Selzer said as a child of deaf parents, “interpreting something that my parents enjoyed was the inspiration that drove me to start Jazz Hands - Signs of a Language.

Through professional interpreters, we aim to provide truly enjoyable and accessible live entertainment, anywhere to deaf audiences.”

“We aim to pioneer the use of professional sign language interpreters for theatre and music at live events in the Afrikaans and English context for now,” said Selzer.

“This will be the first of many performances that we know will lead to a strong culture of theatre attendance in the deaf community.”

Jazz Hands held two workshops with members of the deaf community who would be attending the “Die Waarser” production. During the workshops, Van Rensburg discussed the characters and history behind the story with this audience.

Workshops are an important aspect of preparing a deaf audience to understand and appreciate the performances before the event, Selzer added.

Andile Vellem, a deaf artist and founder of Unmute who works with Selzer, and who would be attending the festival said: “I’m very excited to share this story with other deaf people. The interpreting will be completely different from what they are used to.

"They will also fall in love with theatre the moment they lose themselves in the story. This production will inspire many aspiring deaf performers out there who see themselves as part of the creative community that is theatre.”