It is a labor of love that took nearly two years to complete. There have been ASL translations of Shakespeare before, but Novak and Smith believe this is the first to work so literally, finding physical analogues for every aspect of the language imagery. In Peter's translation, he will use the same beginning hand signs at the start of each phrase, and a similar feeling is created. Here's how it works in performance. Every line of the play is both spoken and signed.
Different actors handle each, and fundamentally each role is played by two people.
It would be like writing Russian with your left hand and English with your right. It may sound confusing, but Smith says it's not. Audiences focus on the people who are moving. The ASL actors take on this aspect, while the actors voicing the lines remain still and on the sides, sometimes in shadow. Smith insists that in fact, the end result is increased clarity.