Review: Deaf Republic, Royal Court Theatre

Deaf Republic from Dead Centre is a seriously thought-provoking piece of work – a hugely complex, challenging play about humanity, inclusion and ways of mutual understanding. It’s adapted from the poems of Ukrainian-American author Ilya Kaminsky and collaboratively written by Bush Moukarzel, Ben Kidd and sign language poet Zoë McWhinney.

A device framing the story encourages us to think differently about how we communicate; prioritising signing over speech; offering surtitles to ensure accessibility. It alludes to our probable intention in being here: “…we go to the theatre, to try to understand each other.” And Deaf Republic certainly does its damnedest to offer every tool in the box to facilitate that understanding, articulating its messages through an epic array of media that disclose multiple realities and perspectives, to enlighten and empower the audience.

The tale itself is deeply human, told partially with non-human puppets, and although painful, it is occasionally playful and funny. In a fictional town, a deaf child watching a puppet show is shot dead by an occupying soldier. The next day the whole town behaves as if they have gone deaf. It’s an act of rebellion that redefines disability as a weapon of resistance, and the audience is powerfully challenged to take responsibility for their own selective deafness to war crimes. The townsfolk demonstrate imaginative ways to combat their aggressors, giving affirmation to interpretation, listening and learning, and encouraging us to examine personal perspectives and considered choices by making us lean in to understand unfamiliar abilities.

The meticulous writing is immediate and impactful, weaving poetry with visual beauty, before juxtaposing visceral distress, in a highly theatrical war setting. Intermingled languages draw together BSL, ISL, spoken English, and vernacular adapted signing, but the audience very quickly learns, and recognising the word for ‘soldier’ shifts our status from spectator to active interpreter.

Amongst an excellent cast there are particularly moving portrayals from Romel Belcher and Caoimhe Coburn Gray: lovers, parents and unique individuals all in the same space. Breath-taking aerial performance contrasts with horror, and you can’t help but consider “Oh what a piece of work is a man” as an acrobat twirls in glorious costume, but with a cold-blooded killer beneath.

The use of puppetry – both object and human – cleverly underscores ideas of manipulation and questions the lines between realities even as it celebrates imagination. We’re visually reminded how we can be strung along or even lynched, as bodies hang motionless above the stage. And as puppetry requires the audience to suspend disbelief, it gently prepares a space where we might imagine alternative ways of co-existing.

Juxtaposed with the analogue marionettes, Jeremy Herbert’s design draws on advanced technology to transport us between understandings. Parts of the action are projected onto a huge gauze front of stage where the details of the unfolding drama are inescapable. A drone that chillingly scrutinises the audience allows us to experience a hint of the fear the characters know.

Deaf Republic is ambitious, poetic, challenging and a difficult watch. It requires the audience to lean in actively throughout, which for me was exhausting: I was verging on compassion fatigue. But perhaps it was just the right side of that to articulate the exhaustion of being in war or trying to communicate with others who refuse to listen.

There are many voices, languages and understandings here, but however the themes are conveyed the horror is ultimately the same for everyone. The finality of death is universal. Deaf Republic is a seriously impressive play – one which offers its audience the possibility to imagine different normalities and make change. It’s certainly a production you can’t help but take away with you.

Written and & Directed by: Bush Moukarzel and Ben Kidd
Co-Writer: Zoë McWhinney
Set Design by: Jeremy Herbert
Costume Design by: Mae Leahy
Lighting Design by: Azusa Ono
Video Director: Grant Gee
Composer & Sound Design by: Kevin Gleeson
Aerial Consultants: Chrissie Ardill, Kat Cooley
Puppetry Consultant: Cillian O Donnachadha
Produced by: Royal Court Theatre and Dead Centre, in association with Dublin Theatre Festival and Complicité

Deaf Republic runs at the Royal Court Theatre until Saturday 13 September.