“There was something I liked about the script, and once I read it all, I knew this is the moment I’ve been waiting for for a good 20 years.” That’s what star Matthew Gurney told the crowd at London’s BFI Southbank on Thursday evening during a panel discussion following a screening of the first episode of the upcoming BBC revenge thriller Reunion, set in the deaf community.
The four-part thriller, also starring Gurney as a deaf man who gets to leave prison after years of incarceration, Lara Peake, Anne-Marie Duff, Eddie Marsan and Rose Ayling-Ellis, was written by Sheffield-born deaf writer William Mager and produced by Sheffield-based Warp Films, the production firm behind Netflix hit drama Adolescence. The bilingual series, filmed in and around Sheffield, features both British Sign Language (BSL) and spoken English.
The BBC will start airing the show Monday, with BBC Studios selling the series internationally after unveiling a selection of photos in February.
Reunion, whose set THR visited last year to get a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the inclusive production, such as hearing crewmembers being taught a word or phrase in BSL at the start of each filming day, is a redemption thriller following the journey of Daniel Brennan, played by Gurney (Name Me Lawand), a deaf man determined to right wrongs after leaving prison. Caught between two worlds, he is unable to fully integrate into the hearing world and is also shunned by his closest friends and the wider deaf community.
“Amidst this isolation, Brennan’s only meaningful relationship is with his estranged daughter Carly, played by Lara Peake (How to Have Sex, Rivals), who he has not had any contact with since his arrest over a decade ago,” according to a synopsis. “Anne-Marie Duff (Bad Sisters, The Salisbury Poisonings) stars as Christine, desperate to find Brennan and get to the full truth behind what he did, alongside Eddie Marsan (Back to Black, Ray Donovan) as Stephen Renworth, Christine’s protective boyfriend, while Rose Ayling-Ellis (Summer of Rockets, As You Like It) plays her daughter, Miri.”
The hourlong episodes of Reunion were directed by Luke Snellin (One Day, Wanderlust) who also served as executive producer, with Helen Ostler (The Last Kingdom, Crime) as producer, and Siobhan Morgan (Waterloo Road, Hollyoaks) as associate producer. Mark Herbert (Four Lions, The Virtues, This Is England) and Gwen Gorst (Unforgotten, A Discovery of Witches) are executive producers for Warp Films, alongside creator and writer Mager, with Rebecca Ferguson and Jo McClellan serving in those roles for the BBC.
“We don’t want to show deaf people as being victims,” Gurney emphasized during Thursday’s panel discussion. “We have good, we have bad. And [this script was] finally written by a deaf writer. I just loved it.”
Also key: “It’s not all about just being deaf. It’s lots of different perspectives all in one program,” the star emphasized. “It’s about both of the communities, and we have to navigate all of those people, deaf, hearing — all of them. It’s about two worlds, and [my character is] in the middle, and it’s about bridging those communities.”
Ayling-Ellis lauded Mager and his writing: “What really made me want to get involved in the project were those small details that only a deaf writer will be able to know about,” she shared. That includes a scene featuring a loudspeaker in prison used to call out the names of inmates, which, of course, is no use to deaf prisoners. “It’s deaf culture within the script.” That appealed to her, as did the fact that the series featured a lot of deaf team and crewmembers, “and more than one deaf actor.”
Marsan also lauded Mager’s “great script” and Warp as a great production firm he has worked with over the years, along with the fact that the show doesn’t just give small roles to deaf actors. “I wanted the experience with a bilingual crew, which was fascinating,” he shared. “I mean filmmaking is collaborative, but this was collaborative on another level. It was so spiritually enriching every day.”
And he lauded Gurney. “Matty is like a Marlon Brando,” Marsan said. “He is so charismatic.”
Duff also shared what drew her to Reunion. “When you read any scripts, whether it’s a play or a screen project, if you don’t stop, if you keep going and don’t make a cup of tea, you know it’s incredible,” she said. “The writing was so good, so it was a no-brainer.”
Peake agreed, adding the opportunities the series provided, and not only in terms of acting with a group of great talent. “This was a real moment to learn something new, immerse yourself in something I don’t think I’d have ordinarily been exposed to,” she said. “I’ve learned so much.”
She and Gurney quickly bonded. The actor recalled taking Peake to a deaf club to allow her to immerse herself in the experience. And from there, “we were thick as thieves,” he said with a smile.
How were the hearing actors when it came to learning BSL? “They picked it up so quickly,” Ayling-Ellis said. “It was amazing. They are naturals.”
Duff shared that with signing, “I found the invisible string between the heart communication and the physicality to be so clear…. Everything is so connected…. It felt like it made sense very quickly.”
And Marsan, laughing, said he recalled how to sign a phrase even once production on Reunion was completed. “I worked with Matty afterwards. We worked together in Ireland, and [when they met up] I signed this — which means: ‘What’s up, motherfucker?!’”
The Reunion cast concluded by sharing their hope for more TV and film opportunities for deaf people in front of and behind the camera. “I have worked with deaf actors and crew. I know that that they can do it,” Gurney said. “I want to see more agents bringing in deaf actors and crew. I hope the game changes in the future.”
Added Marsan: “People watch these Scandinavian detective [series] all the time. What’s the difference!?” Echoed Duff: “Signing is the same language. It’s just a physical version of it. And yeah, I agree with Eddie. It’s just a really good thriller, and you want to identify with and care about the protagonist.… And Billy’s written two brilliant young female roles, and they’re not just soppy.”
And Peake offered: “I hope that people will want to learn BSL” when the watch the show. “It’s so visual. It is a language, but to me, it also felt like an art form, so I hope it’s contagious.”
During another panel session, writer Mager shared: “I hope that I am opening doors [for deaf people with Reunion] and that it is sustainable.”
About his approach to the thriller series, he emphasized: “I refused to write the magic of deaf people in those scenes where a deaf person magically lip reads something from a million miles away.” That was also key because “Reunion is about communication,” he continued. “Everybody in this has a problem communicating their truth and honesty. Whether they’re deaf or hearing, they all have a communication problem.”
Concluded Mager: “Where two deaf people are signing to one another is the only time [characters are] having real communication. And I think there’s a really nice underlying message there. So if you just let deaf people get on with it, they’re fine.”
The comment drew laughs and applause from the audience. Laughter also ensued when Mager discussed what he thought when he started writing Reunion. “I wrote it for myself. This script was my fuck-you script. I wrote it for myself, to myself,” he said. “I just wanted to write something that I would want to watch. But the first draft was just a deaf man on his own with a gun going around shooting. I talked to my wife about it, and she said, ‘Yeah, that sounds great. It just sounds like wish fulfillment. Why don’t we add a little bit more to it?’ So props to my wife. Thank you, my biggest and best critic.”
The result convinced producer Herbert. “I was like: we have to do this. Let’s option it!” he recalled his reaction to reading the script.
“We shot Reunion like an urban western,” he said about the aesthetics. “It’s like a neo-noir western,” echoed director Snellin. “As soon as I read it, I knew it was special. I’d never read anything like it before,” he lauded Mager, adding that he loved the chance to “see a story from the point of view of a deaf person.”
Featuring BSL as part of the visual storytelling also appealed to Snellin. “When I first started learning, I was obviously getting a lot wrong,” he shared about how he started using BSL himself. “I was just trying my best, and I was going to Matty a lot, and I was like: ‘That was ra eally nice take. We’re going to have one more, but next time, just a little bit more emotion.’ And I don’t know where I got this from, but I was signing ’emotion’ as like a single tear or something [running down the cheek].” Which was not right at all.
But the Reunion team made this go-to sign of Snellin’s his sign name. “The best part of it is that that is a sign for ‘wrong,’” the director said to laughs before turning emotional. “I did feel really honored to get a sign name. That’s a huge part of deaf culture, and for me to get one, I really felt accepted into the deaf community.”
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