Pray for Me: The Raw New Show Challenging How Deaf People Are Treated in Faith and Society

One of the most anticipated productions at this year's Edinburgh Deaf Festival is Pray for Me, a raw and visually striking work-in-development that confronts the ways deaf people are treated in religious communities and wider society. Blending poetry, movement, dance and live music, the show promises to be an unforgettable experience for both deaf and hearing audiences when it premieres during the fifth annual festival, running in collaboration with the Edinburgh Fringe.

The production shines a light on a subject rarely explored on stage: the intersection of deafness, faith, race and identity. Created by Sarah Adedeji, a deaf writer, dancer and NHS audiologist from London, the show draws on deeply personal experiences of growing up in a highly religious Nigerian family where deafness was seen not as part of who she was, but as something that needed to be cured.

What Is Pray for Me About?

Pray for Me tells the story of a young Black woman navigating the cultural assumptions, prejudice and barriers that come with being deaf in both religious and secular spaces. Rather than presenting deafness as a deficit, the production reframes it as a source of strength, creativity and unique perspective.

The piece is described as an intimate blend of poetry, physical movement, dance and live music, performed alongside musician ISRA3L. It explores how UK culture and faith interlink, clash and coexist, particularly within African diaspora communities where spiritual healing is sometimes imposed on disabled people.

At its heart, the show challenges the notion that deaf people are "broken" or in need of "fixing." Growing up attending church, Adedeji experienced repeated attempts by pastors to "heal" her deafness through prayer, including having holy oil trickled into her ears. The implication was clear: if the healing didn't work, it was because her faith wasn't strong enough. Pray for Me unpacks the emotional toll of those experiences while also celebrating the resilience and creativity that emerged from them.

Deafness as a Creative Superpower

Far from viewing her deafness as a limitation, Adedeji has spoken passionately about how it has enhanced her artistic practice. She describes becoming "a lot more observant" as a result of her hearing loss, developing a heightened sensitivity to body language, gesture and visual tone that informs both her writing and her dance.

"I see things other people wouldn't necessarily pick up on," she has said. "We lip read, we read body language, we use our hands. We're very gestural, and we can notice the tone in different things, so that we don't necessarily need to be able to hear someone's tone. We can see someone's tone."

This perspective feeds directly into the creative language of Pray for Me, which uses physical expression and visual storytelling as primary modes of communication. Even though cochlear implants have transformed her ability to hear, Adedeji sometimes removes them to experience music differently, feeling the vibrations and the beat through her body rather than her ears. It is this kind of sensory richness that gives the production its distinctive character.

The Edinburgh Deaf Festival: A Growing Force

Now in its fifth year, the Edinburgh Deaf Festival (EDF) has established itself as a vital celebration of deaf culture, language and heritage. Running alongside the Edinburgh Fringe, the festival offers a superb line-up of more than 80 home-grown and international shows and events, providing a platform for deaf artists who are too often overlooked by mainstream programming.

Nadia Nadarajah, the festival's director, has highlighted the importance of work like Pray for Me in representing the shared experience of deaf communities. She has praised Adedeji's ability to illuminate the "tremendous, often undervalued" talent within the deaf community, and emphasised the festival's mission to break down barriers and provide a platform where deaf artists can thrive on their own terms.

The EDF is notable for its commitment to accessibility. Productions are designed to be fully accessible to both deaf and hearing audiences, ensuring that the festival is not a niche event but a genuinely inclusive cultural celebration. This ethos aligns with a broader movement across UK theatre to make stages more representative and welcoming.

Why This Show Matters for UK Theatre

The themes explored in Pray for Me resonate far beyond the Edinburgh Deaf Festival. Across the UK theatre landscape, there is a growing recognition that disability arts are not a subcategory but a vital part of the cultural conversation. Productions that centre deaf experiences challenge audiences to reconsider their assumptions about communication, expression and what it means to be heard.

The intersectionality of the piece, exploring deafness alongside race, faith and cultural identity, adds further layers of significance. Stories about the African diaspora experience in the UK are still underrepresented on stage, and the specific dynamic of disability within highly religious communities is a subject that has received very little theatrical attention until now.

At 25, Adedeji is a rising talent with increasing demand for her work across film, dance and performance. She has found the creative arts to be more welcoming than many other sectors, noting that there are people in the industry who "see disability as a positive thing, look past it and appreciate what I'm putting out." Her dual career as an NHS audiologist and a performer gives her work an unusual depth and authenticity.

Accessibility and the Future of Inclusive Performance

The commitment to making Pray for Me accessible to hearing audiences is worth highlighting. Too often, work by deaf artists is assumed to be "for" deaf audiences only. The EDF, and productions like this one, actively push back against that assumption. By incorporating live music, physical theatre and visual poetry, the show creates a shared experience that transcends the hearing/deaf divide.

This approach reflects wider trends in West End and Off-West End theatre, where accessibility provisions such as captioned performances, BSL-interpreted shows and relaxed performances are becoming more standard. The Edinburgh Deaf Festival is at the forefront of this movement, demonstrating that accessibility is not an add-on but a fundamental part of artistic excellence.

Should You Book?

Pray for Me is a work-in-development, which means audiences will have the rare opportunity to see a powerful new piece of theatre in its formative stages. If you are heading to Edinburgh this summer, this is precisely the kind of bold, personal and politically charged work that makes the Fringe essential. The show is accessible to hearing audiences and offers a perspective on deafness, faith and identity that you are unlikely to encounter anywhere else.

Keep an eye on the Edinburgh Deaf Festival programme for confirmed dates and venue details. For those staying closer to home, the growing profile of deaf-led theatre means there are more opportunities than ever to experience this vital strand of performance across the UK.

Browse all shows currently available on BritishTheatre.com, or explore our guides to new shows and touring productions across the country.