"Tribes" opens Off-Broadway

Nina Raine's strong drama about being a deaf outsider in a hearing family opens writes Joe Dziemianowicz for New York Daily News (05/03/12)

Toward the end of “Tribes,” Sylvia, a young woman who works for a charity, admits: “I love being ironic.”

So does Nina Raine, the London author of this spirited and provocative drama about a British family of big thinkers and bigger talkers obsessed with self-expression who’ve made it hard for one member to communicate.

Ironic, no? So it goes for twentysomething Billy (Russell Harvard), who was born deaf and lip-reads as his noisy clan clucks about their work. His mom and dad, Beth and Christopher (Mare Winningham and Jeff Perry), are authors, brother Daniel (Will Brill) is wrestling with his thesis about language, and sister Ruth (Gayle Rankin) is an aspiring opera singer. Billy has never had a job.

Then he meets Sylvia (Susan Pourfar), who’s slowly losing her hearing. He finds love and employment and learns sign language, something dismissed — almost unbelievably — by his bohemian family as conventional. Signing scenes are woven throughout the play with the use of supertitles.

In short order, Billy delivers an ultimatum to a family that has been deaf to his needs.
“Tribes” covers many themes, from the wonders and failings of families to notions of identity to the hierarchy within the deaf world. Frankly, there are so many explicit allusions to language that “Tribes” comes off too packaged for its own good.

But ample compensations are Raine’s smarts and wit. The intimacy of the story plays to the strengths of director David Cromer, whose sterling take on “Our Town” ran a couple years ago in the same venue.

Cromer’s staging clicks, as does the entire cast. Winningham oozes empathy, and Pourfar is especially lovely conveying Sylvia’s fear and anger about losing a part of herself.
In the key role of Billy, Harvard, who was born deaf, creates a moving portrait of a man torn between worlds. Words can't do justice to his portrayal, and there is nothing ironic in that statement.

Venue: Barrow Street Theatre, 27 Barrow St NEW YORK. Price: $75 Phone: (212) 868-4444