arts & entertainment

Raucous
Discourse

Naomi Pfefferman

Comedy-drama
Tribes communicates
dysfunction of
British-Jewish family.

and thoughtful during the course of a con-
versation.
She noted that the fictional Christopher
has no patience for a cousin who has
he tribes in Nina Raine's comedy-
become observant after marrying an
drama Tribes, to be performed on
Orthodox woman: "[Can't his parents] just
Stagecrafter's 2nd Stage from Oct.
tease him out of being kosher?" he says.
10-19, are Jewish, literati and deaf — all
Raine's immediate family was hardly
as perceived through the lens of one gar-
kosher.
rulous, even antagonistic,
"We didn't learn Hebrew,
British-Jewish family.
and we eat ham, but my moth-
The patriarch of this
er felt that after the Holocaust,
argumentative clan is
you should be proud to be
Christopher, an elitist, politi-
Jewish, and she named my
cally incorrect academic and
brothers Moses and Isaac as if
writer who not only rejects
to say, 'This is our heritage,;'
his membership in the
Raine said. "And I don't feel
Jewish tribe but also attacks
completely English because I
what he perceives to be con-
feel so connected to my fam-
formity of any kind.
ily's refugee history:'
He is thus appalled when
Raine was one of only two
his youngest son, Billy, who
Jewish students at her all-
was born deaf but is expect-
girls high school in London,
r
ed to read lips, brings home
during teenage years when
Playwright Nina Raine
a new girlfriend, Sylvia, who
"you're
re quite vulnerable to
is going deaf and who is introducing Billy
feeling like you want to belong to some-
to sign language as well as to members of
thing:' she said. She found that sense of
London's deaf community.
belonging, in part, by attending synagogue
Christopher retorts that the deaf com-
and Shabbat dinners with her Jewish cous-
munity is a cult "founded on exclusivity:'
ins, a practice she continues to this day.
that the deaf are "the f g Muslims of the
"I also enjoy that game of figuring out
handicapped world," and that making one's
whether people are Jewish or not," she
handicap the center of one's personality is
said, with a laugh. "It's something I love to
ludicrous.
do, even though my boyfriend, who is not
Adding to the raucous discourse, as power Jewish, just doesn't understand why that is
dynamics in the family shift over the course
interesting at all:'
of the play, are Christopher's wife, Beth; his
Tribes began several years ago when
oldest son, Daniel, who suffers from audi-
Raine chanced to watch a documentary
tory hallucinations; and his daughter, Ruth,
about expecting deaf parents who were
a wannabe opera singer.
elated to learn that their baby would be
Speaking by phone from London, Raine
born deaf.
said Tribes is as much about what it means
"I was startled:' she said, "but then I
to be a member of a tribe as it is about how
thought that if I was to have a baby, and it
we hear each other, literally and figuratively.
turned out to have my nose and my blue
Her own family tribe, like the one in the
eyes, it would delight me. There's a kind of
play, is verbal, cerebral and at times quar-
joy in putting an image of yourself out there
relsome.
in the world, of furthering your tribe, your
family tree.
Her father is Craig Raine, the famously
acerbic British poet and academic, who is
"Then I started looking around, and
not Jewish. Raine's mother, Ann Pasternak
tribes seemed to be everywhere she said.
Slater, is an academic who has taught
During a visit to New York, Raine was
Shakespeare at Oxford and hails from a
fascinated by the Chasidim she saw walking
Jewish family. (Ann's mother left the Soviet
the streets of Williamsburg, "who all wore a
sort of uniform, like an extended family"
Union to study medicine in Germany then
fled the Nazis to England; her brother was
"I realized that in the deaf community,
Boris Pasternak, author of Dr. Zhivago.)
everyone has opinions about whether you're
"Some of my cousins are very observant
being deaf in the best way possible, a bit like
and keep kosher, and some are completely
I imagine if you decide to become an obser-
lax, but they all have a slightly sarcastic
vant Jew, people are going to have opinions
opinion of one another:' said Raine, who is
about how 'kosher' you are. It's like intel-
in her mid-30s and was alternately breezy
lectuals talking about other intellectuals, or

Jewish Journal
of Greater Los Angeles

T

42

October 9 • 2014

even family members arguing
with one another:'
It was Raine's family that
ushered her into the tribe of
the theater; when she was 11,
her parents took her to the
opening night of the opera
The Electrification of the Soviet
Union, for which her father
had written the libretto.
"I remember meeting the
director and wearing a pretty
dress, staying up late and
being allowed to have a bit of
champagne," she recalled. "I
was quite young, and I found
all that [glittering] stuff very
cool and exciting:'
Raine began writing plays
while studying at Oxford;
when she couldn't find a
theater to produce her edgy
2006 play, Rabbit, she opted to
direct it herself in a tiny the-
ater above the Old Red Lion
theater pub in the Islington
section of London.
Paul Calandra as Billy and Anna Marck as Sylvia in
She was rewarded for her
Stagecrafters' production of Tribes
efforts with good reviews and
the Evening Standard Award —
Award for Outstanding Play), she not only
which came with 30,000 British pounds —
interviewed members of the city's deaf com-
for most promising new playwright.
Her play Tiger Country, which delves
munity, but also attempted to learn sign lan-
guage — an endeavor she found daunting.
into the psyches of young doctors at a busy
"I felt stupid, slow, uncomprehending;
London hospital, also opened to good
reviews in 2011.
she said. "I wondered, 'Is this what it might
It is Raine's parents who have been among be like to be a deaf person trying to follow a
rapid spoken conversation?"'
her harshest critics.
In Tribes, she said, deafness becomes a
"My mother can't lie, so she's [very bad] at
sugaring the
Raine said. "But she never metaphor: "It's about communication, and
what it means emotionally when we heat"
says things to deliberately hurt you, which
actually is the most gutting thing. And my
This article originally appeared in the Jewish
father is a brilliant editor, so he's used to
Journal of Greater Los Angeles.
taking out his red pen"
Raine admits to bringing a bit of her
Tribes, rated M for mature content,
father to the fictional Christopher, but she
will be performed at 8 p.m. Friday
disagrees with viewers who have perceived
and Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sunday,
the character as monstrous.
Oct. 10-12; and at 8 p.m. Thursday-
"Christopher loves his family, but he
Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sunday,
also worships the individual, and he would
Oct. 16-19, on the 2nd Stage at the
never assimilate into any kind of group," she
Baldwin Theatre, 415 S. Lafayette,
explained. "And he's just a complete contrar-
in downtown Royal Oak. ASL-
ian — to the point where if someone told
interpreted performances for the
him it was inappropriate to wear a colorful
deaf are Oct. 10 and 18. Advance
waistcoat to a funeral, he would say, T--- it
tickets: $16; additional $2 per ticket
and wear it all the same"
at the door one hour prior to the
Raine spent several months visiting hos-
performance if shows have not
pitals in London to research Tiger Country;
sold out. (248) 541-6430; www.
for Tribes, which debuted at London's Royal
stagecrafters.org .
Court Theatre in 2010 and in New York in
2012 (where it won the 2012 Drama Desk

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