Then Barbara met Barbara!

25/02/2022 | ADRENALINE Studios

Accessibility is a serious business, it's true. However, that doesn't mean it can't innovate also.

And that's exactly what ADRENALINE did when creating and recording the Audio Description for the movie, 'Then Barbara met Alan'.
Written by Jack Thorne and Genevieve Barr, It tells the true story of Barbara Lisicki and Alan Holdsworth, two disabled cabaret artists who met in the late Eighties and became the driving force behind Direct Action Network (DAN), whose protests pushed disability rights into the spotlight.

"In order to make the Audio Description even more special" explains John Harley, "I decided to try to reach out to Barbara Lisicki herself and pitch the idea that she could record the AD in our studios. Amazingly, she said yes, and the rest is history!"

One of the tenets of descriptive audio is that the sighted and unsighted audience should have important parts of the plot revealed to them at the same time and, as Barbara makes a cameo appearance in the movie, meeting her on-screen self, ADRENALINE were able to finely time the description so Barbara reveals it is her meeting herself and that it has actually been Barbara describing the movie all along.

Barbara had a great time recording the AD, and, true to form, added several 'cheeky' extras to the written lines, transforming this very British, anarchic slice of life into something even more relevant and fitting.

Also true to form, Barbara gave ADRENALINE constructive criticism about their disabled toilets, prompting a well overdue re-fit!

Check out this fantastic movie on Netflix.

Pictured (L-R) are: John Harley, Barbara Lisicki and Frank Loman