Specifically targeted for elementary school children, but fascinating and truly enjoyable for the entire family, “The King Who Could Not Hear, Yet Listened” is an original fable about brotherly love and accepting our differences, presented for Hearing as well as Deaf audiences, in Seña y Verbo’s particular style of Deaf Theatre. The staging is clever (with five traveling minstrels, three Deaf and two Hearing, acting out an entire kingdom: over 25 characters!) and captivates the eyes as well ears, thanks to the combination on stage of Mexican Sign Language, spoken Spanish, music and Sign Mime (an narrative Deaf Theatre technique).
“The King Who Could Not Hear, Yet Listened” is the story of two princely brothers from a far away kingdom, who loved each other dearly until the day their father, the old King, dies. The elder brother, noble, skilled and worthy in every way, is deprived of his right to inherit the crown for the sole reason that he is Deaf. The ministers of the kingdom decide that it is safer to crown his younger brother, who is Hearing… but they soon learn that what makes a true king is not his ability to hear, but to listen.
A moving story for children, beautifully staged, that celebrates the value of human differences.