The production has a stellar cast, including Nick Dunning and Fiona Bell alongside actors performing on the Gate stage for the first time; Clare Dunne, Gavin Drea, Alex Nowak and Grainne Keenan.
For this production, the action has been relocated from leafy suburban Hampstead to South County Dublin.
Here’s a quick snyposis of what the play is all about: Billy is a young man born deaf into a hearing family. Comically disfunctional, the family were described in the New York Times as having high I.Q.’s and a self regard to match, not unlike Wes Anderson’s Royal Tenenbaums.
Parents Beth (a writer) and Christopher (an academic) have three grown children living at home, Daniel, Ruth and Billy. Billy’s world is transformed when he falls in love with Sylvia, who is the only hearing member of a deaf family.
As their contemporary love story unfolds, Billy grapples with his own identity and the audience are faced with questions about their own understanding of communication, family, love and belonging.
There will an Irish Sign Language performance of Tribes on Fridaym 13 October with interpreter Caroline O’Leary.
For further information log onto www.gatetheatre.ie