Theatre Company: Silo Theatre
Writer: Nina Raine
Director: Shane Bosher
Cast: Jodie Hillock, Michael Hurst, Emmett Skilton, Fern Sutherland, Leon Wadham and Catherine Wilkin
Location: Maidment Theatre (Auckland, New Zealand)

Synopsis (from the flyer):

Billy’s fiercely idiosyncratic, un-PC family are their own tiny empire. They have their own private language, jokes and rules. You can be as rune as you like, as possessive as you like and as critical as you like. After all, arguments are an expression of love, aren’t they?
Born deaf, Billy’s adapted exceptionally to his hearing family’s conventionally unconventional ways, but they’ve never bothered to return the favour. It’s not until he meets Sylvia that he finally understands what it means to be understood; but Is anybody else listening?
Brilliantly funny, defiantly engaging. Theatre that will leave you speechless.

My Thoughts:

This was definitely a play in two halves.
The first half, in which we were introduced to all of the family members, was definitely “brilliantly funny” and “defiantly engaging”. The discussions were both intelligent, passionate and thought provoking. And there was wit and humour aplenty.
However, the second half, almost seemed like it belonged to another play. Although there were still a few elements of the first half, it seemed more laboured. The thing I had most difficulty with was that the main crux of the story required one of the characters to do something that I found a little hard to believe they would have done. It was as if the key element of the ‘dramatic arc’ was forced. And, having lost me at that point, the rest of the play felt less coherent and engaging.
Overall, though, a solid night of theatre that I was glad to have experienced.