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Signs of a Diva tells the story of Sue Graves, who leads an ordinary, uninteresting life as an undertaker, until her life is changed when she is discovered as a sign language diva. But with her new life comes some heartbreaking choices, will Sue, otherwise known as Tammy Frascati, make the right choice between love and a life she's always dreamed of?
In this one woman show, deaf actress Caroline Parker shines. The fluidity of her hand movement whilst signing songs from some of the greatest divas of all time was simply beautiful. She portrayed her character's love of the divas brilliantly, leading me to suspect that she was already a big fan of them herself.
With all performances of this play being captioned, the obvious audience for the show would be those who are hard of hearing, and although it is perfect for them, it is also a wonderful night out for anyone who loves music by divas such as Dusty Springfield, Eartha Kitt and Dolly Parton. I found the performance to be more suited to an older audience, who would be able to sing along to the legendary songs of their period and would be more likely to understand the humour.
Although I thought the show took a while to reach it's conclusion, overall I found it to be an interesting and inventive piece of theatre, and entertaining to all who watched it. And although I would not recommend it to a younger audience, who would be bored by the irrelevance it has on their lives, I would definitely encourage those who share Sue Graves' passion for the heart felt songs by some legendary divas.
Lori Thurston
East Bergholt High School
23rd April 2010 |