Review: Follow The Signs at Tobacco Factory Theatres

06/09/2024 editorial

Wonderful show about Deaf culture and finding your place in the world

Follow The Signs is an upbeat exploration of growing up within the Deaf community. The integrated show brings together Deaf and hearing audiences, uniting them through creative and poetic use of language with both BSL, creative captioning and the spoken word.

It tackles important issues – audism, systemic barriers as well as the impact of intersectionality. But from these emerge a story of hope in a joyous celebration of Deaf culture.

The story follows the life of dancer and choreographer Chris Fonseca. We learn that when he was two years old, he contracted meningitis causing him to become Deaf. He was introduced to BSL to give him a voice to communicate with.

Chris communicates to the audience through BSL, whilst director, co-writer and performer Harry Jardine provides his spoken voice for hearing audiences.

Dance, rap and hip hop music are key elements in the telling of this story. A shared love of music forms both the narrative and its creative interpretation.

The audience enters to find all four performers dancing on stage, which raises the energy levels from the start.

The show tackles the inequities and intersectionality of race, Deafness, gender and social class.

Chris’ mother was unable to afford to keep up with her son’s increasing level of signing due to the expense of having to pay for lessons.

Being Black, Chris has experienced double the discrimination for his skin colour as well as his hearing.

In school he was targeted by racist bullies. This led to the headteacher making the spurious claim to Chris’ mum that there was no racism in his school.

One particular racist incident at school portrayed through movement and intense lighting was a powerful moment.

A lack of reasonable adjustments saw him initially unable to enter a nightclub with his hat. Possibly a case of the profiling young Black men experience as well as the venue making no attempt to mitigate the rules allowing for reasonable adjustments.

Chris also delved into the audism experienced through health and support services, as if Deafness was a tragedy that needed to be fixed.

This was deftly handled through the condescension of inappropriate Speech and Language services. There was also the classic case of people communicating over and above a person to a carer or third party instead of directly to them.

Even translation services failed to appreciate the need that people from different races need BSL signers that represent them. How can a young white woman translate the voice of a young Black man?

Juxtaposed to Chris’ story is that of his friend Raphaella, who he initially believed to have had a more charmed experience. Not the case she explains. She too has labels she’s acquired as well as spaces she was uncertain she belonged in – mixed race, Deaf, Woman.

Ultimately, the show is uplifting. Because it’s told with authentic voices, it has none of the inspiration exploitation that infects social media feeds. This makes it a really important show to watch. Deaf people telling Deaf stories.

Follow The Signs is a celebration of Deaf culture, BSL, and community. It’s about finding your place in the world. Finding your identity and not being afraid to embrace it.

Follow The Signs will be at Tobacco Factory Theatres until 07 September 2024

For more information or to book, visit: https://tobaccofactorytheatres.com/shows/follow-the-signs/

Cast and Creatives
Chris Fonseca – Choreographer, Co-writer, Performer
Raphaella Julien – Story Contribution, Performer
Harry Jardine – Director, Co-writer, Performer
Fleur Angevine Rooth – Performer
Martha Mamo – Stage Manager
Ed Borgnis – Production Manager
Yacoub Didi – Composer
Kirsty Housley – Dramaturg
Sian Weeding – Creative Producer and Creative Director of Fuse Theatre
Rachel Sampley – Video & Caption Designer
Simeon Miller – Lighting Designer
Gareth Tucker – Sound Designer
Deepa Shastri – BSL Consultant
Cherie Gordon – BSL Consultant
Featured Image and photographs: Charlie Swinbourne