Five Kinds of Silence by Shelgah Stephenson started its life as an award-winning radio play that first aired in 1997. She then adapted it for the stage, and in May 2000 it had its debut at the Lyric Hammersmith in London. The cast included Gina McKee, Lizzy McInnery, Linda Bassett, Dione Inman, Gary Whitaker and the wonderfully immortal Tim Pigott-Smith in the cast. The tone of the piece is often lyrical, particularly from the revenant ‘animal Billy’ ('the tarmac road made my dog teeth tingle")
In an interview in Time Out Shelagh says “I didn’t want to make it Coronation Street with incest which is rather boring”. Five Kinds of Silence gets inside the heads of a violent, sexually abusive Billy, and the two daughters and wife who finally crack and shoot him dead with a rifle. She goes on to say “There’s an awful lot of stuff about abuse. I know it’s terrible and it happens but it has become a cliche in art. It has become the reason for everything. What I was interested in was how someone becomes like that. In newspaper articles, they are described as monsters, but this man is a member of a different species, he is recognisably human.”
Five Kinds of Silence is a masterclass in descriptive writing that within a few pages, pulls you into the story at full tilt and leaves you with no doubt whatsoever who these people are and what makes them tick. It is a story of survival against all odds.
“… brilliantly broaches a difficult subject … What is truly arresting and brilliantly intelligent about Shelagh Stephenson’s award-winning [play] is how it handles the subject of brutal violence so quietly … all her characters are fleshed out with great truthfulness. Outstanding.” ~ The Telegraph
Secrets eat away at the core of a family in this unflinchingly honest and deeply insightful portrait of a family broken by madness and systematic abuse. Five Kinds of Silence is at The Lamb Theatre, Old Town, Eastbourne from March 23rd – March 26th, 2022. There will be a Q&A after each performance with the cast and director. Click here for more information and to book tickets.