★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Rinkoo Barpaga’s coming of age story is an urban sign-language symphony, that grabs you from its first moment and never lets go. A truly brilliant piece of theatre. Rinkoo’s beautiful signing is accompanied by a live voice-over, in the show I saw, read with passion by Mathias André. I am very aware that I am form the hearing community, and although I am catered for by the voice-over, I considered it a privilege to see Rinkoo speaking in his own language.
Not only does Made in India/Britain tell the story of Rinkoo’s confusion at being a brown boy, growing up in Birmingham, where Enoch Powell was inciting hatred with his ‘rivers of blood’. The unbelievable racism not only from the hearing world, but his own deaf community too. Despite dealing with the truth about Britain’s colonial past, and its still very apparent problem with being institutionally racist, there is a lot of humour and finesse in the piece. Tyrone Huggin’s direction is sparse but meaningful, allowing Rinkoo to show his incredible power at storytelling.
Rinkoo’s story is an important one, a perspective that is rarely, if ever centred and it makes for essential viewing. It informs as it entertains, but I never felt Rinkoo was playing to the hearing community, I felt it was us that were invited to sit, watch and check our privilege. This is two-fold, as audiences at The Edinburgh Fringe are very white, and that has to be challenged too.
There were so many moments that stood out, from Rinkoo’s friends in the cab on the way to school, his teen years at Derby Deaf College, trying to get out of arranged marriages on his trip to India, like scenes from a brilliant indie movie. Perhaps Barpaga’s own role as a filmmaker for the deaf community has informed this. Ultimately this one of the best things we’ve seen at the fringe and glad it is included in the programme for the 1st Edinburgh Deaf Festival too.
This review is my someone from the hearing community, we understand we are not representative, and if someone from the deaf community would like to review the show we would not hesitate in updating this.
Made in India/Britain Pleasance Courtyard – Pleasance Two 13:40 (1hr) Aug 3 – 8, 10 – 15, 17 – 22, 24 – 29 £13.50/12.50
