Clans, Cults and Tribes: From Family to Deaf Culture

The Berkeley Repertory Theatre, dedicated to provocation, has produced an excellent version of Nina Raine's Tribes. It might appear to be a play about an "issue," deafness in this instance. But it is a drama about the subject of drama since Greek tragedy, which is our inability to communicate with one another. Whether you speak or sign, you are likely to leave the show with something to say about it. The set up is ingenious. The two protagonists, Billy and Sylvia, are mirror images who perforce ...