Ray Bradshaw hailed for use of sign language

Scottish comedian Ray Bradshaw has been acknowledged for his innovation at the Adelaide Fringe.

His stand-up show, Deaf Comedy Fam, is about his life growing up as a child of deaf adults and is performed in a mix of sign language and English.

The 31-year-old won one of two innovation awards handed out at the festival – the world’s biggest all-arts Fringe event after Edinburgh.

A total of 19 awards were handed out to mark the best of the first week of the three-week event.

The Critics’ Circle Award went to the dramatic play Borders, about a Syrian refugee trying to flee to Europe on a rickety fishing boat, written by Henry Naylor – the former comedian and one-time performing partner of Andy Parsons

British sleight-of-hand expert Ben Hart was named best magic  show, while the best comedy award went to the physical show Different Party, performed by New Zealand comics Trygve Wakenshaw and Barnie Duncan 

Stephanie Tisdell, an Indigenous Australian stand-up who previously made the semi-finals of So You Think You're Funny? at the Edinburgh Fringe, won the week one’s ‘emerging artist’ award.

Published: 24 Feb 2018