The Mercury Theatre Colchester, Wiltshire Creative and Unity Theatre Liverpool are to co-produce Nicola Werenowska's new play Silence.
Runner-up in the inagural Mercury Theatre playwriting prize with her play Hidden, Nicola Werenowska will debut her latest work at the Mercury Theatre Colchester before it embarks on a UK Tour.
Silence is a three-hander exploring the inter-generational effects that the Soviety war has had on Polish families. For the production Tina Gray will play Maria, Kate Spiro will play Ewa and Maria Louis will play Anna.
What holds families together? What tears them apart? What’s brewing in the silences? 1996. London. It’s Ewa’s birthday. Her daughter Anna is coming home from university with a secret to share but Maria has some news of her own. As wartime memories of Siberia resurface, old steps are retraced to uncover the secrets of the past and a Polish heritage that unites and divides them. Nicola Werenowska’s funny and fascinating new play hurtles between Warsaw and London over two decades and three generations of a Polish/British family. Nicola said “Silence is the play I've wanted to write for 20 years. To give voice to a wartime Polish generation whose stories of deportation and displacement were written out of history, silenced by the fearful West, buried deep within families. And to give voice to those 2nd and 3rd generation Poles, trying to unravel the past, trying to make sense of who they are. As the wartime generation breathes its final breaths, as nationalism is on the rise across Europe, as prejudice against the Polish community surfaces here in the UK - now is the time to tell this story.” SILENCE UK TOUR This Made in Colchester production opens at: Mercury Theatre Colchester 12 – 20 October Before touring to: Norwich Arts Centre 23 October www.norwichartscentre.co.uk Unity Theatre, Liverpool 25 – 27 October www.unitytheatreliverpool.co.uk The Dukes, Lancaster 30 October www.dukes-lancaster.org York Theatre Royal 2 & 3 November www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk Sir John Mills Theatre, Ipswich 5 November www.easternangles.co.uk The Marlowe Studio, Canterbury 6 & 7 November www.marlowetheatre.com Minghella Studios, University of Reading 8 November Email to reserve tickets: minghellastudios@reading.ac.uk Ognisko Polskie, London 9 November www.ogniskopolskie.org.uk Salisbury Playhouse 13 – 17 November www.wiltshirecreative.co.uk