Finding tribal identities

Deafness and the search for Deaf identity are at the centre of a family's drama in Tribes at the Royal Court theatre. Mike Shamash finds out how well it's explored

How do we define ourselves and how do others view us? These are the central themes of Nina Raine’s play, “Tribes”, currently running at the Royal Court theatre. We see a family sitting around a table, the parents Christopher and Beth with their children Daniel, Ruth and Billy.

They are raucous, articulate, ambitious and opinionated. Christopher, played by Stanley Townsend, is a domineering academic and Beth, his wife played by Kika Markham, is a successful romantic novelist. Ruth wants to be a renowned opera singer whilst Daniel wants to be a linguist. Billy is excluded from the competitive banter because Billy is deaf.

In the play, with a set elegantly designed by Roger Michell, we see how family can be both a comfort and a trap. Amidst all the talk, Billy is denied a voice because the family in their well-meaning attempts to treat each other as equals remain impervious and unresponsive to Billy’s difference. Their identity comes at the expense of his.

To the family’s evident displeasure, Billy announces that he is attending a deaf club and is becoming aware of his Deaf identity. He has friends, he has a life and he announces triumphantly he has a girlfriend from the Deaf community. Nina Raine portrays a family whose sense of identity is challenged by someone entering a world where they are excluded.

The father offensively compares Billy’s girlfriend with an ex of Daniel’s from the north of England. Later on, Billy refuses to use auditory language as an act of self-defiance. It is this theme that is central to the play. This supposedly informed, liberal family are as much victims of their own prejudices and tribalism as anyone else. This is much more evident when the family meets his new girlfriend, Sylvia, beautifully played by Michelle Terry and are forced to confront their prejudices.

The play is a powerful examination of how behind the mask of affluent, erudite people lurks vulnerability, isolation and insensitivity. There is also an understanding that whilst identity can give us strength and support it can also be restrictive.

It is telling when Sylvia despairs to Daniel about the sometimes claustrophobic nature of the Deaf community.

There are failings within the play; the family banter seems too mannered and quite why Billy would be so isolated and misunderstood isn’t made altogether clear. I also felt that in the second half plot devices are used that seemed a little fortuitous. These, though, are minor quibbles in a play which holds the cracks of family life to the light and examines movingly the isolation felt by disabled children in families.