Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Emily Stott, Ragevan Vasan, Rachael Merry.

The search for mutual affection is a dance to which there is no instructional video, the discovery of a soul mate is that waltz or freestyle swaying pirouette through polite society and the odd incursion into the realm of misunderstanding, is one that leaves you breathless and at times declaring a submission, the foxtrot of love ignoring all the rules you may have learned.

It is that dance, the back and forth of conversation, of one person’s line followed by the object of their affections come back and sentiment that makes life worth living but also one of the tangible frown appearing on the head when something is said that the other cannot understand; thrown out of sync and one framed with tremendous insight by Zia Ahmed in hIS play, I Wanna Be Yours.

What brings the element of the special devotion to the play and the relationship as it traverses the minefield of dates and expectations, of the unsaid and the views of others, is the inclusion of a sign language actor, on the stage and immersed in the action. It is in this act of attachment that the audience sees just how we require our language to be clear when we are stating our concerns, the wishes, needs and desires, that the misinterpreted can be a bulldozer through the early stages of a relationship, and that the miscalculated line can be discerned from another’s view.

I Wanna Be Yours is not only delightful, but it is one filled with humour and pathos, a play captured by the three actors, Emily Stott, Ragevan Vasan and Rachael Merry, with a sense of responsibility to the piece that is welcome and alluring. For Rachael Merry as the sign writer, the responsibility is doubled, the nuances of her actions carry the unheard undertones with careful consideration but she also plays the role as if being the unheard, but seen by the audience, of King Lear’s conscious, not the fool, but the wisdom that comes with humility.

I Wanna Be Yours is a wonderful sense of perception, of clarity in the depths of even the most demanding of relationships, and one that truly gladdens the heart to witness.

Ian D. Hall