Sound Barrier

By T.E. Kalem

CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD by Mark Medoff

Silence may be golden, but one would never dream of saying that to the deaf. Yet Sarah (Phyllis Frelich), the heroine of this play, who was born deaf, believes that silence is a magic realm of treasure in which her mind can richly imagine sounds. She is so stubborn in this belief that she has refused to learn how to lip-read or attempt to speak, although she is fluent in the use of sign language. At 26, she works as a cleaning maid in a speech-therapy dorm, although tests indicate that she is capable of college work.

A last effort is made to help Sarah realize her potentialities. The challenge appeals to James (John Rubinstein), an accomplished therapist who is witty, idealistic and amiably self-spoofing. Sparks fly between the two as they define their personalities and their pasts. The sparks become flames as they fall in love, make love and get married. All of this has the engaging aura of balletic miming with Frelich vividly signing and Rubinstein translating the signs into words. At times, this verges perilously close to charades, but for the most part the actors make it ardent, touching and frolicsome.

In Act II the characters and the play seem to fall apart. Almost arrogantly having refused help from James, Sarah joins a "cause"--putting deaf and hard-of-hearing people on the school staff. James complains that he wants to "rest his hands." Finally, in an echo of A Doll's House, Sarah resolves to be utterly her own woman until she can meet James again in some space that transcends silence and speech.

Rubinstein and Frelich do their best to make this plausible, and their ensemble work is wondrously skilled. So is the adept and imaginative direction of Gordon Davidson, at whose Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles this drama originated. Phyllis Frelich is actually deaf, and her presence on the stage of the Longacre Theater may be a Broadway first.

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