Signs of a Diva

Welcome to PC nirvana: a deaf diva singing songs, mainly by black women, in sign language as part of a gay theatre programme. Caroline Parker plays Susan Graves, an undertaker-turned-chanteuse with a flickering neon sign - sometimes she's singing and sometimes signing. When she falls for a man whose lips she can't read, her emotional life is laid bare through the most heart-wrenching melodies from the world's finest divas. The cracking songs are all achingly embodied, so that every audience member, no matter what their aural status, becomes embroiled in her passionate performance. Parker's versatility swings from Roberta Flack to Kirsty MacColl to full vamp glory as Dusty Springfield. Hilariously, her take on Celine Dion's 'Titanic' tune is not that different from the video, as she risks lockjaw in an attempt to capture Dion's reptilian mouth-span. Her miming, unsurprisingly, displays a precision that would make a Lecoq graduate crumple. This show explores how the loss of hearing does not equate with a loss in musical appreciation, and how we can all learn to hear things feelingly. It's easily the best camp deaf northern cabaret ever.