Does ISL (Irish Sign Language, the method of communication used by many deaf people) have dramatic possibilities? Apparently WillFredd Theatre company wasn’t sure, but went ahead with an exploration anyway. The result is Follow, a play with sound by Shane O’Reilly and Jack Cawley. I’m slow to use the word “masterpiece,” but this hour-long interweaving of several stories from the world faced by people who cannot hear clearly, or even at all, comes damn close.

There is the bunch of little imps in a deaf-school dormitory all getting a bad dose of the runs after eating their own cookery, and having to deal with the outcome with inadequate bathroom facilities. It’s delightful, though it takes a deeply sad twist as the same little imps are taken to Lourdes, only to have the ring-leader Ned having to face the family gathered at home and watch their faces as they realise the longed-for “cure” has not materialised.

There is the macho young disco man with 80 per cent hearing loss in both ears trying to sort out his health insurance in a hearing world: macho men wear their ear-protectors round their necks, he admits, and yes, it’s his own fault he’s deaf now.

There’s the desperate young father following a garda and trying to explain that he can’t understand when the garda calls to the house and asks if he has two children, only to lead him to a local hospital where nobody understands his anguished incoherence.

They’re just three of the stories within a story performed by Shane O’Reilly through speech and sign language accompanied by subtitles. O’Reilly is a consummate performer, his body lithe and expressive, his voice perfectly modulated in the way that we have all so often been reminded is how we should speak to help deaf people to hear us.

The emotions ar perfectly pitched under Sophie Motley’s direction, ranging from mischievuous to distraught.

The sound is designed and the music composed and performed bu Jack Cawley, an amalgam that begins with the cautionary disco assault on the ears (mine were still painful the next morning), and takes us through the various sound levels experienced by deaf people.

Design is by Sarah Jane Shiels and there is production involvement from Arts and Disability Ireland. But Follow is first a piece of creative dramatic art. The “disability” element comes behind the creative thrust, which is as it should be in art.

****

In Follow, Shane O’Reilly, the son of deaf parents, provides a unique insight into life as deaf people experience it, using a combination of ordinary language and Irish sign language (ISL) that makes it possible for deaf people to view the show without the need for an interpreter. O’Reilly performs alone, using words, gestures, and signs hat become a whole dictionary of creative movement. And yet there’s plenty of humour, with no attempt at softening the problem of deafness, nor any attempt to patronise or sentimentalise it. He introduces sign language with the words that go with it.

ISL is not the brisk finger movement that you normally associate with deaf people; the movements are more a sort of mime. People can be named by a kind of visual rhyming slang. The boy’s name is Ned, the sign for him is a head resting on his hands, signifying, bed rhyming with Ned. There’s a recurring sequence where he’s watching an underwater programme on television. The plight of a deaf boy desperate to go to the toilet, standing in a queue of over 40 others, is both touching and very funny. O’Reilly is accompanied by a keyboard and guitar player and sound and lighting effects that lend great atmosphere. A genuinely absorbing piece of theatre.

Follow is a play that is pulsing with possibilities, from how clever light manipulation can conjure characters, to how sound effects can move beyond mere musical backdrop and become dialogue and atmosphere.

Follow is one of the joys of festivals like the Fringe. Promising to explore the use of sign language as an accompanying form of dramatic expression, WillFredd Theatre present a one-man show of tales from the lives of members of the deaf community. Using sound, light and performance in a unique and playful way, Follow is a show that captivates from start to finish.

Shane O’Reilly is spectacular as that one-man, with seemingly endless talent. Characterization is sublime, with moments ranging from highly comical to profoundly tragic and deeply moving. Not only is he able to shift deftly between characters, his energy and movement is so organic and sincere that it is near-impossible to not be charmed by his performance. Accompanied musically by composer Jack Cawley, the show is punctuated with instruments both familiar and not, sometimes blending and sometimes jarring with the lone actor on stage, but never diminishing the overall experience.

O’Reilly is supported by superb sound and light design, both of which use the space provided masterfully. The 65 minute run-time is barely noticeable as this company guides the audience through stories that are both poignant and thought-provoking. All in all, an authentic and engaging insight into the deaf community and highly recommended.

Follow makes a lyre out of the Lir – this richly inventive production plays upon the space, fusing the available technology of sound, light and LED captioning, to amplify a compelling performance by Shane O’Reilly. The experience of deafness and the striving to communicate has been interrogated by the processes of theatre. If, as director Sophie Motley’s programme note contends, Irish Sign Language (ISL) is “a perfunctory language”, here, through a rhythmic dance of words and sounds, it is synthesised into grace notes.

Although there is only one person on the floor (his image tripled through use of full-length mirrors) O’Reilly is intimately bound to three people, fully visible on two scaffolding rigs, who provide a constantly-fluctuating light-and-soundscape for the action. It is backstage both laid bare and totally integrated into the piece.

Composer Jack Cawley provides major atmospheric support – his guitar is both pounded and played, becoming an additional character; Sarah Jane Sheils’s design maximises the use of shadow, darkness and directional light.

O’Reilly speaks an absorbing body language, often charged with urgency, panic, frustration. He recreates elegantly the element of water and the graphic horrors of curry-tummy – incessantly, restlessly inventive.

Every journey to the theatre commences in hope (too often dashed) – here it is totally justified.

Created for both hearing and deaf audiences, WillFredd Theatre’s Follow is a courageous hour-long solo performance, punctuated by flashing light bulbs and pulsing music.

The play begins with loud music, as those waiting in their seats chat idly, some signing, while those speaking to each other have to contend with the noisy ‘Deaf Disco’ before it ends with a flash of light and an attention-commanding bang. From centre stage, actor and co-creator Shane O’Reilly then leads his audience into a mesmerising world where sound is simultaneously important and unimportant.

Throughout the shows, O’Reilly races through a series of vivid, thought-provoking scenes containing a singe common denominator: deafness. O’Reilly, who is not hearing-impaired but grew up with deaf parents, transmits his messages, vignette, by light, movement, sign language and facial expression. With the exception of a single chair, the set is totally unfurnished. Props, too, are basic and infrequent.

In spite of this, O’Reilly plays out the trials of his various characters, effortlessly transporting us from the scene of an accident to a Christian Brothers school to the office of an insurance broker to a bath in Lourdes.

As the scenes progress, the audience must rely on all senses to absorb the messages conveyed. The performance is at once funny and sad, achieving an emotional power by contextualising and blending a variety of challenges – some generational, some particular to the deaf community.

Follow won the Spirit of the Fringe award at the Absolut Fringe Festival in Dublin in 2011 and it is easy to understand why. As director, Sophie Motley has deftly navigated a multitude of wide-ranging emotions, eras, ages and capabilities – exploring difficult themes and introducing humour in the most unlikely places.

O’Reilly’s incredible vocal range is (appropriately) matched by his stage presence, which fluctuates between breathless pace and slow reflection. It’s an exceptional, high-energy performance: one he is assisted with by a thoughtful lighting design by Sarah Jane Shiels.

Ultimately, the sound, which is booming at times, becomes less important, like the subtitles running across the small screen overhead.

O’Reilly leads with a mixture of sign language, movement, expression and insightful interactions with light; it’s up to everybody else to let go and follow as they can.

Follow doesn’t come across as an impulsive experiment but, rather, as an assure and effective production. At its ease, it will shock you, impress you and make you think.

****