A family is a complicated entity. And,
sometimes, things said and not said can make or break the unit. Sometimes a
family’s dynamics just aren’t pretty.
Every family has issues. Relationships blossom and relationships
falter. Communication can sometimes be a real problem.
Familial communication is at the heart of Nina
Raine’s comedy/drama, Tribes,
currently playing at the Mark Taper Forum.
This
particular family is progressive. Billy, who is the central character in this
production, is the youngest in a family of five. He is also deaf, although he’s
been raised as if he can hear. The matriarch and patriarch of the family, Beth
and Christopher, encourage self-expression. The conversation at the dinner table
is one for the books. There is
lots of yelling and lots of four letter words flying. For someone on the outside looking in it would look like a
family at war. But if you read between the lines and you believe what
Christopher says, ‘it’s because we love each other.’
There are
three children, Ruth, a woman who is lonely and questioning why she doesn’t
have a love life. Then there is Daniel, who is a pothead and stutters and has
some other psychiatric problems, including hearing voices in his head. He also
has an unhealthy fear of his brother, Billy, abandoning him. Both Daniel and Ruth have recently
returned home. Daniel is writing a thesis on language, while Ruth is trying her
hand at being an opera singer, much to the chagrin of Daniel.
Billy, who doesn’t know sign language, but lip-reads very well, watches
helplessly as his family, who also don’t know sign language, communicate rather
freely with each other. He’s left feeling estranged. His parents thought it best not to have Billy feel
handicapped or that he has a disability by learning sign language. Their
thought was to have him feel as ‘normal’ as possible by lip-reading.
Then, one day, Billy, deaf since birth, meets Sylvia, at a club. Sylvia
is a young woman who is an expert at sign language and is, unfortunately,
losing her hearing due to an inherited condition. Both of her parents are
deaf. She teaches Billy how
to sign – introducing him to the deaf community. The ability to sign opens up a
whole new world for him.
Things
come to a head when Billy announces to his family, through Sylvia, that he will
no longer have anything to do with his family until they all learn to speak to
him through sign language. His family, of course, hits the roof. The reality is that Billy has grown
tired of being compliant in the way his family would have him communicate.
It’s
fascinating to watch this family situation play out.
Director David Cromer has amassed an incredibly talented ensemble that
oozes family. The cast features original New York cast members Will
Brill, Russell Harvard, Susan Pourfar and Gayle Rankin, as well as Lee Roy
Rogers and Jeff Still who took over roles in the long-running production.
There is no one stand out in this production, as all of the actors bring
their individual A-games. Still
and Harvard have the most difficult characters to make believable and both do
it with enormous flair and conviction.
Raine’s words and Director David Cromer’s direction = a smart and
emotive piece. At times it’s exhausting and even hard to watch as Billy tries
in desperation to get his family to understand the loneliness, isolation and
angst he feels as an outsider in his own family.
Kudos to everyone involved in this production. Scott Pask’s set is
effective and Jeff Sugg’s supertitles and projections used in the production to
create a sense of what it’s like to communicate as a deaf person are fantastic.
Daniel Kluger’s sound design, Tristan Raines’ contemporary costumes, and Keith
Parham’s lighting also help to bring this production to its fullness.
On the DONLOE SCALE: D (don’t bother), O (Oh, no), N (Needs work), L
(likeable) O (OK) and E (excellent), Tribes gets an E (excellent).
Tribes, Mark Taper Forum at the Music Center, 135 N. Grand
Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90012;
Tues.-Fri. 8 p.m.; Sat. 2:30 and 8 p.m.; Sun. 1 and 6:30 p.m., no performances
on Mondays; through April 14, 2013; Tickets $20-$70; 213 628 2772 or www.
CenterTheatreGroup.org
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