Interview: Actor Louis Neethling on Deafinitely Theatre’s THE PROMISE

Deafinitely Theatre’s world premiere of The Promise opened at Birmingham Rep last week, playing until 13 April, before touring to Northern Stage, HOME Manchester and concluding its tour at Lyric Hammersmith Theatre. We spoke to actor Louis Neethling about performing in this piece.

The Promise is a brand-new play that has recently embarked on its first UK tour. Tell us what the play is about and your role in it?

The play explores how dementia impacts upon a deaf family’s relationships with one another and where we see suppressed grievances rising to the surface.

I play Mike – father and factory worker, who is educationally deprived as a result of a poor deaf education, and therefore has a limited understanding of the world around him which leads to frustration, ignorance, and also relying on others.

For those who may not have come across them, who are Deafinitely Theatre?

Deafinitely Theatre were the first deaf led professional theatre company in the UK, and they produce bilingual theatre in British Sign Language and spoken English.

Deafinitely Theatre makes space for deaf writers, deaf directors, deaf actors, deaf stage crew, deaf production staff, to create and put on work about issues that are important to them.

How does combining spoken word with BSL add to and elevate the storytelling?

It reflects the world that deaf people inhabit.

What does the show have to say about the world we live in today?

In recent years, mainstream films such as Still Alice, or Elizabeth is Missing, documentaries such as BBC’s Dementia and Us, or personal stories dropped into Comic Relief have made the general public more aware of dementia and Alzheimer’s. However, there is a dearth of information about deaf people with dementia. The last and only conversation relating to care provision for older deaf people, and more specifically the unique issues that deaf people with dementia and their families face, was Mutt & Jeff Pictures’ 2012 documentary, Who Cares? for The British Sign Language Broadcasting Trust. It is 2024 and there is still only one deaf care home in the whole of the UK.

What have you learnt about yourself as a person and as an actor through the process of being involved in this show?

This is a personal project for me as I have recently had serious conversations with my deaf siblings about my elderly deaf parents. My mother has dementia and my father has been caring for her with ad hoc assistance but it’s not enough as her condition has deteriorated. This has not only informed my contributions during the rehearsal period, but it has also fed into my performance. I’m invested in a holistic approach to a project; I see my role as a small cog in the process of conveying this unique deaf experience to a hearing and deaf audience. Everything is interconnected and whether it is actors knowing everyone’s lines and not just their own parts, or actively listening to one another, or even the hearing talent off stage learning about deaf people and signing BSL; all of this contributes to the final show that the audience is watching.

It sends the right message to the audience and to fellow deaf talent.

How do you think theatre and the arts more broadly can become more accessible for people who are deaf, so it doesn't just remain a specific sector/genre of theatre?

We need broader platforms - it’s so important that ‘deaf’ plays are seen at venues like The Birmingham Rep or the Lyric Hammersmith alongside mainstream names and established companies.

Give deaf audiences - all of the spectrum of medically defined deafness - more captioned and BSL integrated performances. Utilise technology and at the same time employ more deaf actors.

Why should audiences come to see the show if it's coming to a venue near them?

Why should they not come and see the show? Paula Garfield’s and Melissa Mostyn’s play has heart, it’s engaging and creative; it allows the audience to either see their world reflected (deaf), or opens the door onto a world you did not know existed (hearing). And for all those people (including me) who has grown weary of very long shows and numb bums, it’s approximately one hour and twenty five minutes long.

The Promise continues to tour until 11 May. For more information, please click here.