Birmingham Rep
Expressive performances and arresting effects heighten this mother-son tragedy, primarily told through British Sign Language
This drama opens with a lilting evocation of summer: a back-screen bursting with pink blossom, the twitter of birdsong and a reading of the Shakespeare sonnet: “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” This lyricism remains throughout but The Promise turns into a quietly devastating, and autumnal, story of dementia, death and family miscommunication.
Created by Deafinitely Theatre, and primarily told through British Sign Language, it is the story of a mother, Rita (Anna Seymour) and son, Jake (James Boyle), who have become estranged. He is gay, his disapproving father (Louis Neethling) has died, and he feels enduringly let down by Rita because she promised to come to his wedding in Amsterdam but never showed up. The story begins as they meet after what seems like a long absence, and Rita, now retired, shows clear signs of dementia.
