Signs of love and life

LANGUAGE takes centre stage in the acclaimed family dramedy Tribes - but not in the ways you expect. One of the children, Billy (Thomas Pang), is deaf. Mum, Dad (Susan Tordoff and Adrian Pang), brother (Gavin Yap) and sister (Frances Lee) are not.

On any given day, the family members are engaged in an intellectual one-upmanship that precludes Billy. Billy can read lips but cannot engage in the family's brisk debates.

His family refuses to treat him as sp…