Strictly Come Dancing champion and former EastEnders star Rose Ayling-Ellis has described how she was left “trembling” after a heckler interrupted her during a performance of Shakespeare’s As You Like It. The actress, 28, speaks about the shocking moment in her new BBC documentary Rose Ayling-Ellis: Signs For Change, which sees her speak to people pushing boundaries within the deaf community.
Rose made her West End debut as Celia in the production, which was held at Soho Place in London from December 14 to January 28. Whilst performing she used British Sign Language on stage.
During the new film, which airs on BBC One on Monday, June 26, Rose recalls how the cast had to leave the stage when the man started shouting during their final matinee show. "He was standing on the corner and he was shouting. I didn't understand what was going on because I couldn't hear him," she explains in the film. Rose previously opened up about the moment on social media - read what she had to say here.
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Rose adds: "We got off and then someone told me he said that he didn't like the show and he said that we were discriminating. I just can't believe that a man thought it was okay to stand up and interrupt the show. It's like, why can't I be a normal actress and go out and perform without being interrupted? You know what it [has] only fuelled the fire in me."
Afterwards Rose chatted about the ordeal with her friend. She told him: "After I finished the performance that's when it hit me. I cried a lot. I cried because every single scene that I was signing in felt more meaningful."
When her friend asked about how she "must have been quite shaken", she added: "I was trembling. I couldn't stop thinking about that man and if everyone else in the audience felt the same. There might be people there sat thinking, 'Why are they signing? I don't like it.'"
Rose learned that the man was complaining about not being able to read the subtitles while she was using sign language. "His aggression and anger directed at me was really upsetting,” she says.
Rose Ayling-Ellis: Signs For Change airs on BBC One at 9pm on Monday, June 26. For more showbiz and television stories get our newsletter here.
