THE AIM of Paris-based theatre company Hippolyte a mal au coeur is to connect with as many people as possible, particularly those with a hearing impediment, and to develop bilingual productions, initially in French and Sign Language.

Now translated into Spanish and English, and showing across the globe, Estelle Savasta’s play tells the tender story of the relationship between Nour (Charmaine Wombwell) and the profoundly deaf Youmna (Nadia Nadarajah), who communicates through sign language and a wonderful visual expressiveness.

A celebration of women and the profound transference of love from mother to daughter, it charts the progress of one gentle girl as she migrates from her own poverty-stricken country to a land of plenty, crossing borders and keeping hope alive through love.

The main narrative strand of migration is a familiar story. Youmna sends Nour away for a better life and on her travels, disguised as a boy, she’s at the mercy of traffickers and in fear of the law. Her arrival, in what seems like Britain, sees her standing alone and desolate in dismal, dripping rain and  where even the sky is hostile.

Finding a hostel, getting the right papers, learning the language and basically staying alive is a battle in itself and it’s only possible because of Youmna’s love.

Visually it’s a stunning piece, with Nadarajah —  fluent in British and four other Sign Languages —  performing with balletic beauty and an inner glow that fills the stage. Wombwell, highly skilled in physical theatre, speaks straight to the heart, mutating from a graceful and vulnerable teenage girl to a timid and lanky would-be boy just by removing her headdress.

Rajha Shakiry’s design, whereby words and translations, letters and numbers are projected onto a simple, pale set is memorable, particularly when the emotional turmoil of Youmna, smiling as her heart breaks, is reflected in the designer’s frenzied image of jumbled words, zigzagged through with lines like those of a cardiac reading.

It shows how language – sign or otherwise – represents the underlying thought process all share  and, while the largely simplistic narrative tells us little that is new, a final twist brings meaning to the whole.

Director Omar Elerian brings clarity and beauty to this gentle and empathetic production.

Runs until April 27, box office: bushtheatre.co.uk