Breaking the Silence. To 31 May.
Nottingham
BREAKING THE SILENCE
by Stephen Poliakoff
Nottingham Playhouse to Saturday 31st May 2008 7.45pm
Friday 30th May 7.00pm
Matinees Saturday 5th May 2.30 and Thursday 10th 1.30
Audio described performances Saturday 24th May 2.30pm and Wednesday 28th May 7.45
Signed interpreted Saturday 24th May 2.30pm
Runs 3 hours. One interval
TICKETS: 0115 9419419
www.nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk
Review: Jen Mitchell 21st May 2008
Breaking the Silence has its origins in the story of Poliakoff’s own family in revolutionary Russia.
The central character of Nikolai bears more than a passing resemblance to Poliakoff’s own grandfather, who was also an inventor and one of the first people in the world to record sound on film. He too had his own train when he was made Telephone Examiner, although he shared it with his manservant rather than his family.
It is through the character of Nikolai – Philip Bretherton - that the story unfolds. As a relatively wealthy industrialist, all is right in Nikolai’s world; he is able to buy his beloved English clothes and shoes, keep his wife in relative – but stifled – comfort and employ a Governess to educate his rather pampered son, Sasha (Ilan Goodman).
His world shifts irretrievably with the onset of the revolution. Troops seize his summer residence for use as a barracks, Nikolai is forced to accept a bizarre job, under even more bizarre circumstances and eventually find himself travelling to the most remote locations in Russia with his family and the faithful servant Polya. Philip Bretherton makes entirely credible a man who is so single minded and arrogant he seems at times to be completely implausible! His single mindedness in the pursuance of his dreams, even to the extent of endangering his family, is astonishing – and amusing.
The rules by which Nikolai has played and become successful no longer count for anything – he responds to his situation with a mixture of denial and confusion, maintaining his dress, manner and the ultimate need to keep up appearances, even to the extent of hosting a small dinner party whilst a battle rages on just outside the carriage.
It is the women of the piece who are liberated by the tragic situation they find themselves in. Diana Hent is excellent as Nikolai’s wife, Eugenia. The stifling social constraints she is frustrated by are gradually stripped away as the existing social order is turned on its head, allowing her to develop into a happy, independent and brave woman. She eventually saves her husband’s life through an impassioned plea to the guards about to take him to death, when Stalin comes to power and life changes once again.
Polya (Celia Meiras), the faithful family servant, who stays because she has nowhere else to go, is also allowed to grow and flourish as a person within the claustrophobic confines of Jamie Vartan’s railway carriage set. Her devotion to the family never faltering throughout, she makes a conscious choice to stay with them even when offered the chance of independent elsewhere.
All this may sound very worthy but this tragi-comedy doesn’t seek to make moral judgements or teach us a lesson. It is a story of a family and an insight into the human condition with all its absurdities. The humour of the piece is found in the most unlikely places, as in life.
Verkoff: Owen Aaronovitch
Nikolai: Philip Bretherton
Guard 2: Jim Findley
Sasha: Ilan Goodman
Eugenia: Diane Kent
Polya: Celia Meiras
Guard 1: Jonathan Wright
Director: Esther Richardson
Designer: Jamie Varton
Lighting Designer: James Farncombe
Composer and Sound Designer: Stuart Briner
2008-05-25 12:31:57