Tribes

Tribes, by Nina Raine

Guthrie Theater
October 15, 2013

When I started this blog, I said that I am fully determined to enjoy every show I see. Some I love. Some make me think. Some are also things that I see, but they're an enjoyable way to spend the evening nonetheless.

Tonight I was tested.

Tribes is challenging, provocative, and occasionally difficult. From the beginning the profanity is almost shocking (as one of the actors said in the post-show discussion: "We hit you right out of the gate with the C U Next Tuesday, didn't we?"). The oldest man alive, with whom I shared an armrest tonight, didn't enjoy this, and I could feel him physically cringing away from the stage often during Act I. The set is amazing (more than 28,000 books carved from styrofoam, I'm told). The details are extraordinary. Two of my favorite Guthrie actors are in it. I still found myself detached from the story for the better part of an hour.

Until the final scene in the first act, when one of the characters plays the piano. Then it had me.

Tribes is primarily a story about family and communication, and it brings to the fore the difficulties often therein contained. One son, Billy, is deaf; another, Danny, hears voices and begins to stammer more and more as the play goes on; the daughter, Ruth, the only non-writer in the family, is finding her voice in singing opera; and the parents are intellectuals often embroiled in a battle of wits with each other and/or their children. At the beginning of the play, all three children, in their twenties, have returned home to live with their parents, causing even more tension.

This play details Billy's struggles as a deaf man brought up in a hearing family. When he meets Sylvia, brought up in a deaf family but losing her hearing in her twenties, he finally feels he has found a place--his tribe. She teaches him sign language which he feels allows him expression, rather than trying to always take everything in through lip-reading as he had grown up doing in his family.

I would not have enjoyed this play as I did without the post-play discussion. The actors articulated beautifully the struggles of each of their characters. John McGinty, making his Guthrie debut in Tribes, is deaf and talked about some of his own experiences communicating in a mostly hearing world. The poignant familial and familiar clashes resonate uncomfortably, regardless of one's individual experiences. Admittedly I found some of the scenes disjointed (perhaps that would be different if reading the script), but overall the evening was worthwhile. The warnings about strong language are serious--but I still wouldn't hesitate to bring my high school students to see it. Try to go to a performance with a post-play discussion.

Tribes is playing until November 10.