“Plays like Silenced need to be written and seen but if Vox Productions want to make an impact with this play, it will need a re-think to be punchier.“
Kate Stratford 2.5 /5 meditations
“Let her speak, please”.
Could there be an issue more reflective of the zeitgeist than the unheard female voice? Silence is the ocean of the unsaid, the unspeakable, the repressed, the erased, the unheard. And as Silenced, it is the title of the verbatim style production presented by Vox Theatre. Linda Nicholls-Gidley’s script ranges across historical (and often brutal) silencing of women, through silencing by shaming, threats, racism and a myriad of other leverages used by society to choke the voice of women. There is also an examination of the paradoxical nature of silence itself – how it can be a safe space as well as a prison.
In what is meant to be an ironic take on the place of women, the play is set in a backyard draped by clotheslines and overly full of garden furniture and detritus. Six women gather for a sort of get-together (?) But then it fractures uncertainly to other places and times. Nola Bartolo, Chanika Desilva, Sonya Kerr, Deborah Faye Lee, Linda Nicholls-Gidley and Mariama Whitton deliver various experiences of enforced silence with equally varying moments of truth. Some fragments were simply more engaging and authentic than others. The problem with this inconsistency lies more with script than skill.
Silenced, as Documentary theatre, uses both interviews and historical reports. Trying to shape these pieces into a dramatic whole as well as playing real people (as opposed to fictional ones) is a whole company challenge; for not only is the editing process incredibly time consuming but there must be ethical considerations of how the material shapes performance. Whilst a worthy topic, the choices made in shaping Silenced do not create the necessary dramatic arc and tension. The shape is not serving the aim.
Likewise, there were quite a few “Chekov’s gun” aspects of the directing and design. Empty glasses were drunk from, a bbq was dragged around, pots and flowers cluttered the stage – all without ever serving the action. These choices distracted from the movement and intent of the play. If not used with purpose, why were they there? The right to speak is a form of wealth that is undergoing a redistribution (no wonder powerful men are punitive towards women). Plays like Silenced need to be written and seen but if Vox Productions want to make an impact with this play, it will need a re-think to be punchier.
Kate Stratford , Theatre Now
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