The Promise is a powerful, moving and important piece of protest theatre, created by Deafinitely Theatre, in collaboration with Lyric Hammersmith Theatre and The Rep, Birmingham, where it is currently on tour. The play follows Rita, a deaf teacher, literature lover and fan of Coronation Street, whose life is upturned by Vascular Dementia.

The main message of the play is that there is only one care home in the UK which accommodates her language, British Sign Language (BSL) - it’s located in the Isle of Wight, and there are no rooms available.

The story is told primarily using BSL, with projected subtitles on the wall above the actors’ heads, and all of the storytelling is communicated in a visual way - with some spoken English and atmospheric music. Deafinitely Theatre is UK’s first deaf launched and led professional theatre company, and their skillful bilingual performance had great impact.

Rita is played expertly by Anna Seymour. We see her first as a young teacher, leading a class discussion on the meaning behind Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18: ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’ She expertly translates the written words into BSL, embodying the blossom depicted in the words ‘Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May’. The play moves from past to present, and Rita visibly ages in front of the audience - a change indicated only by Seymour’s physical performance.

Blossoms are a theme of the piece, seen being shaken from trees in a swirling projection across the set. There is a poignant difference between the way Rita describes the blossom as a vibrant young woman, and in her older years, when her hands shake, and the message is less clear.

The play focuses on the small family unit that surrounds Rita: her loving but obstinate husband Mike (Louis Neethling), estranged son Jake (James Boyle), and family friend Jane (Erin Hutching). All three of these actors swap effortlessly between characters and moments in time with slick efficiency.

It might take a moment for audience members who are not used to relying on subtitles to engage fully with this rich style of storytelling, but it’s well worth it, and arguably the only appropriate way to tell Rita’s tale. The play is slow-paced, but this is intentional - the action unfolds, and the audience is gently led to understand the heartbreaking story, with moments of laughter, beauty and calls for change along the way.

Five Stars

Reviewed by Jessica Clixby on Tuesday 9 April. The Promise shows at The Rep, Birmingham, until Saturday 13 April.