Deaf Youth Theatre

Hi welcome to the DYT page. This is Deaf Youth Theatre.

Who are we? We are a youth theatre for Young deaf people ages 12 - 21. We are the only Deaf Youth Theatre in the whole of Britain that runs continuously throughout the year with breaks only for Christmas and Easter.

What do we do? We have weekly workshop where we explore all area’s of theatre form acting dancing and movement to technical theatre skills with set, sound and lighting and we even have fun with video camera’s and making short films.

When are we on? We meet every Wednesday night at the Arches in Argyle Street Glasgow from 7pm – 9pm, with a few exceptions.

How do I join? You can email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or find us on Facebook. Why not come along and see for yourself what it is we do.

Theatre productions and events: Every year we run a summer project in July where every day is focused on creating and rehearsing a performance that the young people have created. We then present this performance to a huge audience for 1, 2 or even 3 nights. We have a close relationship with the National Theatre of Scotland and this year we are taking part in their 5 minute theatre – see www.fiveminutetheatre.org for more information. For the fist time since we began in 2008 Dyt are taking part in the promote YT festival this July – see www.promoteyt.co.uk for more details. We are always keen to go and see lots of theatre performances so we arrange theatre outings and workshops for all DYT members on a regular basis.

Remember if you have any questions or would like more information then just email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or add us as a friend on facebook, or join our mailing list by adding your email address to the home page of our website.

For more information about past Productions and workshops click the links below.

Solar Bear established Scotland's first Deaf Youth Theatre (DYT) in January 2008.

In Year 1 a total of 284 people benefited from this project including, at its core, 22 members of DYT and 5 placements. A year round programme of workshops culminated in two weeks full-time over the school summer holidays and offered drama, theatre and performance workshops including movement, mime and signed mime. Workshops also covered stagecraft and technical training, inc. lighting and an introduction to stage management. The members of DYT come from a wide geographic spread, range between the ages of 12-21 and use varying communication methods.

"He has definitely gained confidence from taking part in the Deaf Youth Theatre. It's increased his signing skills and independent skills - he had to travel to Glasgow and on underground in summer to go to summer project"
Quote from feedback sheet received from a parent of a DYT member

"Gives themselves confidence. Which is something that is so badly needed"
Quote from feedback sheet received from a parent of a DYT member

Year 2 of the project started in August 2008. Through this project, the work that Solar Bear has been able to do to raise the profile of deaf theatre within hearing culture has also been significant. This has been made possible by the high profile of the project. Solar Bear's marketing team ensured that the launch of DYT got a fantastic amount of media coverage, the story was covered on Reporting Scotland (lunchtime and evening slots), BBC Radio Scotland and there were press features in leading national newspapers with a distribution of over 147,000. There has been a huge interest in the project from the hearing world, as well as from deaf groups and organisations, the theatre community, theatre practitioners, and colleges and institutes of higher education.

"[We've noticed] a dramatic increase in confidence. For example the 2 week course in summer his mum and I thought he may quit after day 1 but he very quickly grew to love the course and really from day 2 we had to calm him down every night because of the thrills he obtained from the course"
Quote from feedback sheet received from a parent of a DYT member

"[The Deaf Youth Theatre] has led to improvement in his spatial awareness which has been a problem since birth"
Quote from feedback sheet received from a parent of a DYT member

"We thoroughly enjoyed the performance acted out by the young people after their summer project - it showed us that our child felt very much part of the group and really enjoyed taking part in the drama"
Quote from feedback sheet received from a parent of a DYT member

"The kids were brilliant. Brilliant. All the kids were brilliant. They made you laugh...there were sad parts. You saw all their antics and their characters. It was really, really good"
Reaction from a DYT member's mum to the summer showing

Cartoon Love is a short film created by Members of The Deaf Youth Theatre with film artist, Ian Bustard.

The film was devised and filmed over the period of a week in October 2009 and is based on the young people's ideas around

the theme of love at first sight.  The film will premier in February 2010 and will be available on our web site some

time after.

This project was funded by Awards for All