DEAF REPUBLIC
Royal Court
★★★★★
“a show that has it all: a resonating war story, impeccable acting, beautiful language and incredible design element”
Deaf Republic, an adaptation of Ilya Kaminsky’s poems, is a piece of theatre that requires time to process and digest. Dead Centre, a theatre company famous for their groundbreaking theatre making, along with Sign Language poet Zoë McWhinney, create a world that is accessible and painfully relevant to the horrors that take place in the name of humanity every day, through puppetry, video performance and silence that speaks volumes. It’s almost like a respectful slap in the face.
In a fictional town named Vasenka, war is raging and after the murder of a deaf boy, who couldn’t hear a soldier’s commands, the whole town suddenly goes deaf. Everyone has to adjust to a new, silent reality, while enduring the consequences of living in an occupied territory. Alfonso and Sonya, a couple who run a puppet theatre, are determined to keep their puppet shows going. When tragedy hits their family, it’s up to the townspeople to carry on the fire of the resistance.
During a very Brechtian introduction, we’re told how British Sign Language (BSL), subtitles (or rather, surtitles) and spoken language will get merged in the performance and that what we’re about to see is a fictional story. The actors first create some distance between the characters and the audience, in order to help us assess what we see from a more objective point of view. But that comes crashing down when one of the characters mentions that in sign language ‘you can’t be a passive observer, you have to take a position’, so the audience is addressed as the people of Vasenka, we become part of it. An intriguing contrast, or debate, that keeps unfolding till it’s clear that being just an observer is not an option that does the citizens of the Deaf Republic justice. Which raises the question: should we lean more on our emotional responses or on our reason and logic?
Co-writers and co-directors, Bush Moukarzel and Ben Kidd, also Dead Centre’s artistic directors, urge you to come to your own conclusion and they use deafness as a means to instigate a rebellion against a military oppression. Dead Centre is familiar with challenging the barriers of theatre performance, like in another show of theirs called Chekhov’s First Play, where parallel narrations are provided to the audience through the use of headphones. In Deaf Republic, it’s not just BSL and spoken language that come together, but also a magical community, full of laughter and hope, and an overwhelming state of brutality, full of despair. The balance and delicacy with which this epic story navigates both is outstanding and leaves you with a feeling of peaceful exasperation that sits deep in your gut.
The cast are an ensemble of hearing and deaf actors and it truly feels like a celebration of cultures, where everyone connects with and is fully attuned to one another. An array of skills, from aerial performance to poetry and exceptional puppetry, that could become distracting, simply elevates some wonderfully raw performances, like Romel Belcher’s (Alfonso) and Caoimhe Coburn Gray’s (Sonya). Dylan Tonge Jones’s (Soldier) gives a chilling performance as the heart of the oppression and you take pleasure in despising him.
The most impressive element of this play is its use of space. Set designer Jeremy Herbert has created a multilayered stage that includes a stage within a stage, hidden parts that we can only see through live video recording and thin walls that allow you to see different perspectives of the same scene. It’s a journey unlike anything you’ve seen before. Lighting design (Azusa Ono) along with sound design (Kevin Gleeson) complement the tone perfectly, from the cheerful beginning to the twisted and frenzied end.
Deaf Republic is a show that has it all: a resonating war story, impeccable acting, beautiful language and incredible design elements. Moreover, in this signed revolution, you get to experience a collectiveness that doesn’t let any individual behind.
DEAF REPUBLIC
Royal Court
Reviewed on 4th September 2025
by Stephanie Christodoulidou
Photography by Johan Persson
Recently reviewed at the venue:
AFTER THE ACT | ★★ | May 2025
MANHUNT | ★★★★ | April 2025
A GOOD HOUSE | ★★★★ | January 2025
