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Regional Reviews: San Francisco A Smart Production of Nina Raine's Tribes Also see Jeanie's review of Young Frankenstein
Tribes opened in 2010 at the Royal Court Theatre in London where it was given positive reviews and nominated for an Olivier award for Best Play. It opened Off-Broadway at the Barrow Street Theater in 2012 and won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play. Since then, companies all around the country have presented this intriguing drama. The strong Berkeley Rep cast plays a boisterous middle-class north London family whose perception and awareness are shown by their relentless arguing. One of the children says "I thought everyone's parents walked around in the nude shouting at each other." The academic father Christopher (Paul Whitworth) is always bellowing, and he continuously belittles his blocked novelist wife Beth (Anita Carey) who has strange working methods. Billy's siblings are unusal as well: Ruth (Elizabeth Morton) is a hopeful opera singer who has so far only sung in pubs, and Daniel (Dan Clegg) is a graduate student writing a thesis on language. Daniel occcasionally hears voices. Tribes is a paradox of a play about deafness that has scintillating dialogue. The playwright has many sharp, unsentimental things to say about tribes, whether it is the pecking order of the deaf community or the hang-ups of a nonconformist family with a talent for manipulation. Director Jonathan Moscone has assembled a very talented cast to portray the six characters. James Caverly, a National Theatre of the Deaf actor who played Billy in Boston and Washington D.C., gives a dazzlingly pronounced performance as Billy. Neil Geisslinger (Oregon Shakespeare Festival actress and director) gives an impressive performance in the difficult role of Sylvia. Paul Whitworth gives a splendid performance as the bumptiously offensive head of the family, Christopher. Anita Carey is pitch-perfect as his steadfast, keen wife Beth. Dan Clegg gives a vibrant performance as the highstrung son Daniel, while Elizabeth Morton is impressive as the wannabe opera singer Ruth. Todd Rosenthal has devised a great lived-in living room set with wide-ranging furnishings, as if this family has filled every square inch of their living space with active-academic objects. Jake Rodriguez' sound design uses excellent effects to amplify some points in the drama. Director Jonathan Moscone's direction is both subtle and brutal, bringing out the best of this gifted cast. Tribes plays through May 18, 2014, at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison Street, Berkeley. For tickets call 510-647-2949 or visit www.berkeleyrep.org Coming next is Tony Kushner's The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures opening on May 16th.
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