TRIBES examines language and communication in a severely dysfunctional family
Barrow Street Theatre
27 Barrow St. at Seventh Ave. South
Through September 2, $75-$95
barrowstreettheatre.com
Nominated for Outstanding Play and Outstanding Director by the Drama Desk, Nina Raine’s Tribes is an intimate examination of communication, language, and family. Originally presented at London’s Royal Court Theatre in 2010, Tribes delves into the trials and tribulations of a wildly dysfunctional family that emerge when prodigal son Billy (Russell Harvard) suddenly returns home. Although Billy was born deaf, his parents, Christopher (Jeff Perry) and Beth (Mare Winningham), tried not to raise him differently, deciding not to have him learn sign language or be treated as if he has a handicap. Back home, Billy reconnects with his brother, Daniel (Will Brill), a bitter, ne’er-do-well wannabe writer, and his sister, Ruth (Gayle Rankin), who has dreams of becoming an opera singer, while his father spouts off against the establishment and his mother attempts to improbably keep the peace. But when Billy meets Sylvia (Susan Pourfar), a young woman who is slowly losing her hearing because of a genetic condition, he takes a closer look at his upbringing and doesn’t like what he sees. Tribes is a searing, poignant drama that takes place around a central table surrounded on all four sides by the audience, as if the crowd is part of the characters’ extended family. Director David Cromer (Orson’s Shadow, When the Rain Stops Falling) makes excellent use of the tiny space, which subtly references the claustrophobic nature of this rather unwelcoming, extremely selfish and self-absorbed family, then takes things to another level in a series of later scenes that ingeniously explore the world of the deaf. Tribes is a splendid achievement, one of the best plays of the year on or off Broadway.