Deafinitely Theatre’s The Promise on tour – review

A poignant new production, The Promise explores the difficulties around sourcing care for elderly deaf people who develop dementia – and it does so through the prism of an already fractured family.

Son Jake, played by James Boyle, arrives to visit his mother for a couple of days following the funeral of his father. We immediately realise this family is not functioning well when we learn Jake missed his dad’s funeral and didn’t even know his father was dying.

But Jake soon discovers something else – his mum Rita, played by Anna Seymour, is frequently confused and can no longer cope on her own. And, while he initially hopes there will be a quick solution, he is rapidly disabused of that notion.

After his neighbour Jane, portrayed by Erin Hutching, points out that while she has been helping out, Rita is actually Jake’s responsibility, he attempts to negotiate the care system. But, faced with delays for assessments, forms he is unable to complete and the discovery that the only home which provides specialist care for people who are deaf and have dementia is in the Isle of Wight, his two-day visit risks becoming endless.

The Promise is created by Deafinitely Theatre, the first deaf-launched and led professional theatre company in the UK, and uses a mixture of words displayed onto a backdrop, British Sign Language and some spoken English.

Written by Paula Garfield and Melissa Mostyn and directed by Garfield, the team spent two years researching and crafting the play, drawing on the experiences of families so it has an authenticity to it. These are the real problems faced by real people on a daily basis.

Through juxtaposing the present with flashbacks, the play slowly reveals the complexity at the heart of the family and their situation. Where initially we feel annoyed at Jake, wondering what kind of son doesn’t even know his dad is dying and his mum has dementia, we come to understand that he has blocked out his parents through his own hurt.

His father Mike, played by Louis Neethling, has been unable to accept Jake’s homosexuality and refused to attend his marriage in Amsterdam. Rita promised to come but never showed up – and Jake cannot forgive her for this.

Seymour gives an understated performance as Rita which makes the portrayal all the more powerful. We see her as a young woman, teaching deaf children Shakespeare or dancing in front of the television. And then, after pulling on a cardigan, stooping her shoulders and slowing her pace, we see her as the elderly, struggling Rita. Seymour seems to move effortlessly and certainly convincingly, between these two Ritas, reminding us of all she was before dementia took hold.

She and husband Mike clearly have a special bond and a series of scenes in which he repeatedly passes her a crossword she is unable to do and she offers to make tea and gives him a kettle instead of a teacup are achingly sad. We also see Mike battling with his own health at the same time and knowing what is to come makes those interactions all the more sorrowful.

Boyle’s Jake is a mess of contradictions. He wants to help his mum but doesn’t know how, he is desperate to run away from it all but is afraid to leave her in limbo, and he says he loves her but still resents her for the past.

Hutching’s Jane is the voice of reason who tries to lead Jake to the right solution while Neethling’s Mike is a man of his time who reads and believes the tabloids, fears AIDS and cannot comprehend that his son hasn’t grown out of his attraction towards men.

A co-production with Birmingham Rep and Lyric Hammersmith, The Promise premiered in Birmingham Rep’s intimate space known as The Door, which brought the action all the closer. It is hard not to feel pulled into this family and to share their pain when they are a few feet away.

The play makes great use of video, designed by Ben Glover, with an opening image of falling petals a fitting symbol for the loss of Rita’s mind and the passing of time. It also calls on a mix of new and classical music designed and composed by Marie Zschommler.

The Promise runs at 90 minutes without an interval and, while that ensures we don’t have a break from the unrelenting difficulties faced by the family, the story does feel a bit rushed and jumbled at the end – particularly when some of this is a big reveal on the past. The production may have benefited from an additional ten or 15 minutes to develop and expand the finale and give it the punch it deserves.

However, this is a story that is profoundly moving and disturbing in equal measure. Watching someone who cared so passionately for others thrown into a system which is unable to cater to her needs is both heart-rending and somewhat terrifying. The Promise asks us very compellingly what kind of a society we have if we cannot care for its most vulnerable.