THE BASICS: TRIBES, a play by Nina Raine, directed by Doug Zschiegner, starring Johnny Barden, Melinda Capeles, Anna Krempholtz, David Marciniak, Margaret Massman, and Dave Wantuck opened on March 3 and runs through March 27, Thursdays – Saturdays at 7:30, Sundays at 2 at Road Less Traveled Productions, 456 Main Street Buffalo NY 14202 In partnership with Deaf Access Services, RLTP will also offer 2 ASL performances: Friday March 4 at 7:30pm & Sunday March 27 at 2:00pm. For tickets call (716-629-3069) or visit roadlesstraveledproductions.org
CONTENT ADVISORY: Tribes contains explicit language and profanity. Students under 17 not permitted. Proof of vaccination and masks required upon entry.
RUNTIME: Two and a half hours with one intermission. Bar available.
THUMBNAIL SKETCH: Billy is the only deaf member of a very loud, very talkative, very “wordy” and argumentative, loving, yet dysfunctional British family who raised him as part of the hearing world. When Billy meets Sylvia, a young woman his age who is losing her hearing, he learns about the “capital D” Deaf Community, and begins to make choices for himself.
THE PLAYERS, THE PLAY, AND THE PRODUCTION: Without a doubt, Road Less Traveled (RLTP) is one of the finest producing companies in town, checking all the boxes, with a special niche of offering plays that “make you think.” They choose plays which are very entertaining and deliver lots of laughs if you want a fun night out, but everything they present has layers for those who want to discuss “big issues.” Something for everyone. Coming off of their smash hit show HAND TO GOD (original review here, and post-pandemic remount review here) they have a worthy successor to that play in TRIBES.
The playwright, Nina Raine, comes from a family which values words (her father is a poet, her great uncle was novelist Boris Pasternak) and she writes what are called “conversation pieces” meaning works that inspire conversation. But, with Raine, who studied literature at Oxford University, everything has multiple meanings, so this play is about conversation, too, which includes talking, yes, but conversation is also supposed to be about listening. Oh my.
Our on-stage family does have a real problem with listening, especially to their deaf son Billy (played by Dave Wantuck who is, in real life, very active in the Deaf community).
Our on-stage family does have a real problem with listening, especially to their deaf son Billy (played by Dave Wantuck who is, in real life, very active in the Deaf community). This inability to listen is part of their family or “tribal” culture which is controlled by the blustery academic dad (David Marciniak), who is enabled by the “ignore-it-and-it-will-fix-itself” wanna-be novelist mom (Margaret Massman), and older brother Dan (Johnny Barden) who can’t focus on writing his thesis. Dan is listening, except that often it’s to voices inside his head, and we’re really not sure what self-absorbed wanna-be-opera-singer Ruth, the daughter (Anna Krempholtz) is listening to . Even Billy’s empathetic girlfriend Sylvia (Melinda Capeles) might be losing her listening skills while she deals with her deteriorating hearing ability. The ability to listen and the ability to hear are not the same things.
As Billy, through acquiring hearing aids and by learning to sign, finds his world expanding and feels more and more agency, Sylvia, now growing tired of the mores and what she perceives as the tribal nature of the Deaf Community, feels that her world is contracting.
It seems that words are not always adequate to express everything one wishes. In one scene, Dad confronts Sylvia on this point, saying that British Sign Language is not a “language” because its grammar doesn’t conform to standard English. Billy takes exception to this, but later even Sylvia has to admit that she’s frustrated that signing can’t communicate irony well. Issues about communication in any language (sign, spoken word, written word, music) are presented. It’s complicated, but Raine doesn’t go down any rabbit holes. The play moves along briskly.
I could go on and on about each particular actor and how polished his or her performance was, because they were, but in my experience, where there is consistency across the boards and excellent ensemble work, we look to the director, which here is Doug Zscheigner. Well done.
Having said that, we were mesmerized by the performance of Melinda Capeles, as we so often have been in the past, no matter what stage she’s acting on. Because interpreters for the deaf are used these days so often we’ve all seen a variety of styles, but until this play we’d never seen sign language expressed so lyrically.
And I could go on and on about the wonderful little touches in this play, including the father ignoring his family while he wears headphones trying to learn to converse in a second language – Chinese. Speaking of second languages, did you know that there currently is a movement to recognize those who sign (American Sign Language or British Sign Language) as “bilingual?” Just keep that in mind when you go to see this play. Another fine touch is the use of what I’ll call the “storm out” tactic whenever any conversation moves into uncomfortable territory one party to the so-called “conversation” storms out of the room. Obviously, whether you are hearing, reading lips, or signing, there can be no conversation when others are absent.
In this, only her second play, Nina Raine wisely sticks very, very close to the standard dramatic structure. There’s no need to re-invent the wheel when you’ve got bigger issues to deal with. If you’re interested in such things, David Trottier’s The Screenwriter’s Bible is available with multiple copies at the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library.
Using textbook format, the play opens with the “exposition” as we meet the family at the dinner table and we learn about the characters and their world. Soon, there’s the “incident,” where in this play, Sylvia, the “catalyst,” confronts the “protagonist” Billy, raising a dramatic question, the big problem that will have to be answered by the end of the play.
During the “rising action” the protagonist Billy’s attempts to resolve the problem only make things worse because he doesn’t yet have the skills he needs to deal with the “antagonists” (his family).
During the “rising action” the protagonist Billy’s attempts to resolve the problem only make things worse because he doesn’t yet have the skills he needs to deal with the ‘antagonists’ (his family).
He also needs to find out who he really is. But, once he does, in the resolution, there’s the big climax leaving the protagonist and the other characters with new self-knowledge.
I mention all this not to dismiss the play as formulaic but because, within the comfort of established practice, playwright Raine is free to explore double and triple meanings and to flesh out situations that seem organic and fresh and very realistic.
So on the playwright’s side, she’s found room for enhancement, and that’s true on the production side as well. For example, the incidental music as chosen by the wonderful Sound Designer Katie Menke was inspired. The only music that is specifically called for in the script is Debussy’s “Claire de Lune” to be played on the living room piano. The playwright does makes mention of string sounds at the beginning of the play, but the rest of the many classical musical selections were all chosen by Menke.
When one character expresses regret at her former life slipping away, we hear from Mozart’s opera “The Marriage of Figaro” where the Countess sings the aria “Dove Sono” – “Where are all those beautiful moments of sweetness and pleasure?… why, if for me everything has changed to tears and grief, the memory of that happiness hasn’t faded away from my soul?” There are super-titles, but even if you don’t understand the Italian lyrics, Mozart’s music makes you feel the emotion, and of course, this all has double resonance in that Billy’s sister Ruth wants to sing opera. Everything in this play has at least two meanings.
For another delicious “double entendre” Sound Designer Menke includes a portion of “The Humming Chorus” from Puccini’s opera MADAM BUTTERFLY. From the word “humming” you can gather that this is a wordless piece heard while one of the characters loses her ability to hear words. In the opera, it’s heard while Butterfly futily awaits the return of her sham husband Pinkerton. When he finally does arrive he is with his new American wife, and her world is shattered.
There’s a lot more and all-in-all the classical music made the environment seem, well, “classy.” And the music worked well with the Set Design by Lynne Koscielniak who filled the space with all of the furniture and appointments that one would expect from a well-to-do educated family. I should also mention that the overall set design was brilliant, providing five (five!) entrance points in a rather compact space.
My one quibble was with the attempt to introduce British accents. Probably the worst accent heard was the pre-show voice-over about turning off your cell phones (which may have been an attempt at humor, or should I write humour). Once the play started there was a lack of consistency. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if the play is set in a foreign country then let us know what country that is and move along without attempting accents. They’re usually just distracting.
So then, as we say in “Four Buffalo” country: Both the production and the play are of high caliber. If the genre/content are up your alley, I would make a real effort to attend.
Lead image: David Wantuck, Margaret Massman, Anna Krempholtz and David Marciniak | Photos courtesy of Gina Gandolfo 2022.
*HERD OF BUFFALO (Notes on the Rating System)
ONE BUFFALO: This means trouble. A dreadful play, a highly flawed production, or both. Unless there is some really compelling reason for you to attend (i.e. you are the parent of someone who is in it), give this show a wide berth.
TWO BUFFALOS: Passable, but no great shakes. Either the production is pretty far off base, or the play itself is problematic. Unless you are the sort of person who’s happy just going to the theater, you might look around for something else.
THREE BUFFALOS: I still have my issues, but this is a pretty darn good night at the theater. If you don’t go in with huge expectations, you will probably be pleased.
FOUR BUFFALOS: Both the production and the play are of high caliber. If the genre/content are up your alley, I would make a real effort to attend.
FIVE BUFFALOS: Truly superb–a rare rating. Comedies that leave you weak with laughter, dramas that really touch the heart. Provided that this is the kind of show you like, you’d be a fool to miss it!