Issy Cory
Joe speaks in three tongues: his mouth, his hands, and his heart. No wonder he can communicate his songwriting talents with fellow musician Andy, despite Andy being hearing, and Joe being deaf. Across the initial rift of their understanding, a working partnership is born.
Cora Bissett’s script ebbs and flows with a physicality that knows no bounds. Tied together with KT Tunstall’s compositions, The Singer takes hold of us, and carries us carefully through the winding paths of embracing who we are, and not what others hope for us to be.
In an Ancient Greek-like fashion, our Chorus, enacted buoyantly by Hannah Jarrett-Scott and Petre Dobre, introduce us via a Prologue, setting the stage for the spectacle. At once grandma and grandad, then thieving neds, and all-round grandiose narrators, they pull us in close so that we don’t just hear, but we feel.
Like a dance, BSL swims around the stage. Bounced around with genius creative captioning by Daniel Hughes, we are by proxy invited to understand the inherent performance of signing. It is not some taxing, bolt-on, tick-box element of the show, it ameliorates every speech, gesture, and emotion. It’s like watching theatre in UHD, taking on sudden and mesmerising vibrancy.
Jamie Rea and Dylan Wood share a singular chemistry, a bond that is forged through the struggle they manage to overcome together. Wood’s Andy is tortured by his own failures both as a professional and a father, and is plagued by the stigma that surrounds Joe as a deaf performer. On the contrary, Rea’s Joe is a beacon of joy for the duration, impassioned by his creativity as he yearns for others to delight in it.
Togetherness is at the heart of The Singer. How else can you encourage a majority hearing audience to sympathise with a deaf singer than by teaching them all to sign a chorus in BSL? Peering round at audience members beginning to mimic Joe’s signing as the play progresses is just the touch of magic one can only hope for in the theatre.
As the lyrics and melodies fade, leaving the bass line underneath, leaving only what Joe can feel, we collectively lose our breath. In that moment, Rea has us in the palms of his ever-shifting hands, and we stop hearing altogether. Truly a masterpiece.
Recommended Drink: I hear Tennent’s is good for songwriting.
You can catch The Singer at Traverse Theatre from August 21-30 at Various Times (80 mins). Tickets are available through the EdFringe Online Box Office.
Isobel Jacob
Esme Davis
