Paul T Davies reviews Nicola Werenowska’s play Silence now playing at the Mercury Theatre Colchester as part of a UK tour.
Silence
Mercury Theatre, Colchester.
17 October 2018
5 Stars
Tour Details
Playwright Nicola Werenowska has said that Silence is the story she has wanted to tell for over twenty years. She is married to a Polish man whose parents were displaced from Poland during the Second World War, and whose mother was deported from Eastern Poland to Siberia. But, through talking to other children of Polish immigrants, she uncovered a vast landscape of atrocities that were never spoken about, that marred a generation and affected their relationship with their children. This is the right time for that story to be told, and this beautiful production is a quiet triumph, that slowly opens its arms and its heart to you.
The intergenerational silence is examined through three women, Maria, a survivor of the concentration camp in Siberia, her daughter Ewa, desperately unhappy in a loveless marriage, imposing her views and values of the world onto her daughter Anna, who, as the play begins, in the 1980s, is failing her degree course and decides to move “back” to Poland. The death of Maria’s husband triggers memories and discoveries that lead the women to re-evaluate everything about themselves and their mothers. In the wrong hands, this could have been a histrionic, melodramatic story, but the subtle script is served beautifully by Jo Newman’s sensitive direction, and a cast that bring crystal clear clarity to the time and mood shifts, aided by a simple, yet powerful set and a quite extraordinary sound design that hints at, but never dictates, location and mood.
As Maria, Tiny Gray is quite outstanding, her wartime experiences locked inside, bringing up her child and her grandchild with steely resolve, grateful that Reading has provided a peaceful sanctuary. She brings elegance, grace and dignity to a character that suffered the most horrifying loss during her time in Siberia, yet begins to let her love for her family shine through. As her daughter, Ewa, Kate Spiro has a difficult task of portraying an woman who is initially unsympathetic, restrained by her own unresolved feelings, but her discoveries and journey towards accepting herself, her mother and her daughter, is beautifully portrayed. Maria Lois is perfect as Anna, fighting against the boredom of suburbia, deliberately provoking her mother, but coming to terms with her family history when she herself becomes a mother. The play’s revelations are shocking, and it’s a deeply moving ending that the cast handle perfectly, as the silence is broken and the family bonds heal.
Significantly, this is an all female production, cast and creatives, but men should not feel excluded from this story- inter-generational silence affects us all, and I left the theatre thinking about things left unsaid and unasked between my mother and grandmother. Men may be absent from the stage, but not from the lives of the characters, Anna’s grandfather, for example, is beautifully illustrated and alive in the text. It’s a story that needs to be told, and this is a production that shows Werenowska at her finest. It tours until November 17th, and I highly recommend this powerful, beautiful production.
