Follow the Signs, performed at HOME theatre this Wednesday, was a true mish-mash of different experiences with rapping, singing, dance, educating and more.
The hip-hop show tells the life story of its main lead Chris Fonseca, from losing his hearing in infanthood through to his school and teenage years.
He then meets Raffie, played by Manchester’s own Raphaella Julien, who also is a Deaf person but with a vastly different lived experience to Chris.
Uniquely, this show was fully British Sign Language-led, designed to be enjoyed by both Deaf and hearing audiences alike.
This allowed the narrative to be told very effectively, with an authenticity due to the lived experience of the performers.
Julien commented in the run-up to the show: “Follow the Signs means a lot to me as it is personal.
“It is all about identity – I believe a lot of people lack self-reflection and the ability to embrace who they truly are because of society’s expectations. In this show, we break down that damn wall!”
The show had some technical difficulties – at around the 10-minute mark, there was an abrupt stop and a five-minute break to solve the problems.
This put a bit of a dampener on the experience, but they rebounded from it well after the fact.
Overall it was a very good performance. All involved are very impressive technical hip-hop dancers and the voice performances from the two accompanying members of the cast alongside the leads were excellent too.
The sequences involving the two leads getting cochlear implants, devices to assist their hearing, were especially impressive and emotionally evocative – particularly given the trauma around those events for Chris.
The performance was also very effectively able to explore the intersection between different struggles, in this case being black whilst being Deaf, as well as class and gender.
Feature image: Follow the Signs – Fleur Angevine Rooth, Chris Fonseca, Raphaella Julien. Photos by Charlie Swinbourne
