SINGAPORE, May 25 — It would be hard for many of us to imagine a world without sound. Not so hard, perhaps, would it be to imagine what it’s like being — or not being — part of a group.
In Pangdemonium’s latest production Tribes, a smart, humorous and moving play by Nina Raine, we meet a deaf young man and his dysfunctional family.
Born deaf, Billy (played by newcomer Thomas Pang) has had to adapt to life in a very outspoken family.
Said family is led by a highly opinionated, politically-incorrect academic of a father (Adrian Pang), who’s given to bursts of profanity. You also have mum (Susan Tordoff), who’s a wannabe novelist; brother Daniel (Gavin Yap), an obnoxious livewire with father issues; and sister Ruth (Frances Lee), a struggling singer.
It’s all well and good, until Billy introduces his new girlfriend Sylvia (Ethel Yap), a woman who is in the process of turning deaf.
Order then breaks down and beliefs are challenged.
Tracie Pang’s sensitive, meticulous and pitch-perfect direction allows us to enjoy Tribes as a family dramedy even as we willingly embrace its intellectual edge.
Language and communication are central to the story, of course, and the play doesn’t shy away from expounding on debates about these.
“You don’t know what feelings are until you put them into words,” says Billy’s father at one point, while brother Daniel dismisses language as worthless elsewhere.
Playwright Raine sneaks in a comment or two about the complicated issue of translation, suggestions that music is a non-verbal form of expression and more.
Even the playful treatment of surtitles by multimedia artist Brian Gothong Tan emphasises the fragile nature of communication — as someone plays the piano, its musical score floats on the screen and “thought balloons” pop up at heightened moments, revealing sentiments completely different from what’s being said by the characters.
Most importantly, there is use of sign language by characters Sylvia and Billy and — as an absolutely important and laudable decision — three sign-language interpreters occupying a prominent spot on stage (there will be five more shows with interpreters during the play’s run).
All these are linked to the bigger issue in a play that’s ultimately about belonging, and the social codes dictating our relationships with other people and ourselves.
Even as Billy’s family comprises one rather eccentric, demanding and somewhat elitist “tribe”, he discovers and is tempted by another one comprising fellow deaf people.
But Sylvia — whose life is a reverse mirror image of Billy’s (her family is deaf) and who is in the midst of a confusing transition herself — also warns him how even the deaf community is governed by its hierarchical set of rules.
It’s a reminder that groups (including those defined by “big things” such as race, language or nationality) are organised through inclusion as much as exclusion.
But Tribes does not simply pay lip service to these issues and to the deaf community. Tight, generous performances all around ensure it is a show full of heart.
Gavin Yap’s transformation from cocky brother to pathetic, stammering figure unable to control the voices in his head is truly heartbreaking, while Ethel Yap and Thomas Pang’s respective transformations, and facility to convey emotions via sign language, are a huge testament to their talents — in particular, the latter’s scene-grabbing “monologue” using only sign language is something to behold. Pangdemonium has unearthed another talent to watch out for yet again.
Hear us out: Watch this play.
Tribes runs from until June 7, 8pm, Drama Centre Theatre. With 3pm weekend matinees.
Tickets from S$30 to S$70 (RM80 to RM188) at SISTIC.
Advisory 16: Coarse language. — TODAY
