Learn to create live theatre captions in a 2-day course with Theatre and Dance NI & Digital 4.
Theatre and Dance NI have been providing captioning equipment to venues and companies across Northern Ireland since 2012. Our mission is to make theatre and live performances more accessible for everybody, including those who are deaf or hard of hearing.
In collaboration with Digital 4, pioneers of Theatre Captioning, we are offering two comprehensive 2-day training courses. This training is designed to empower participants with the skills needed to create professional, high-quality captioning for live events. Digital 4 has played a key role in improving theatre access for the UK’s 12 million deaf, deafened, and hard-of-hearing individuals, and their captioning technology is now used in the UK, Germany, and the USA.
Training Details
Theatre Captioning Training | 2nd & 3rd September 2025
Start time: 10am
Location: Lyric Theatre Belfast
Theatre Captioning Training | 4th & 5th September 2025
Start time: 10am
Location: Lyric Theatre Belfast
Please note, full attendance on both training days is required.Â
Why Theatre Captioning?
Captioning converts the audio content of a live event into text and displays it on a screen or monitor. Captions not only present dialogue but also include speaker identification, sound effects, and music descriptions—enhancing the experience for audiences who are deaf or hard of hearing.
What You’ll Learn
Over the course of two days, participants will gain:
- An understanding of the history, purpose, and objectives of theatre captioning
- Hands-on experience with Sopratext software (Captioning/Venue, Script Formatter)
- Techniques for verbatim captioning and creative approaches
- Practical skills in script formatting and preparation
- Live captioning practice with video show relay and peer review
- Insight into the future of captioning technologies