REVIEW

Silence The Salberg, Salisbury Playhouse

Silence, Nicola Werenowska's perceptive play, is a sensitive study of family links across three generations during the Second World War years and beyond.

The imaginative production ends its UK tour this week at The Salberg, in Salisbury Playhouse, finishing on November 17. Don't miss the opportunity to savour a performance, staged by Mercury Theatre Colchester, Wiltshire Creative and Unity Theatre Liverpool.

Jo Newman directs the excellent female cast of a drama that encompasses wartime memories and modern times for members of a Polish/British family. Their experiences in Siberia, Warsaw and London over two decades and three generations, are truly absorbing.

Tina Gray, as Maria, has tragic memories revived with startling immediacy when she hears the name chosen by her granddaughter Anna (Maria Louis) for the baby who is the emerging fourth generation of the family. Kate Spiro, as Anna's practical mother Ewa, reveals a surprisingly supportive stance while the elderly Maria - portrayed with dignity by Tina Gray - can never be free of experiences almost too painful to recall.

Simple staging enhances the impact of this superb generational drama that has won well deserved acclaim.

Catch it if you can.

Stella Taylor