REVIEW: Breaking the Silence, Chesil Theatre, Winchester (From Daily Echo)
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REVIEW: Breaking the Silence, Chesil Theatre, Winchester
9:58am Wednesday 8th February 2012 in Curtain Call By Ham Quentin
DIRECTOR Flavia Bateston and producer Deborah Edgington make the best of Stephen Poliakoff’s play, set during Lenin’s rule in Russia and concerned with Nicolai (Martin Humphrey), of aristocratic stock, now working for the state and forced to live in a railway carriage with his family, who are painfully aware of the dangers of maintaining his lofty mien while he’s more concerned with perfecting the technique of sound on film.
Humphrey and a very likeable Rachel O’Neill as his wife convincingly depict their struggle to adapt their ideals and survive in a violently changed world, while Hazel Round skilfully balances the servant’s love and duty with her growing sense of personal autonomy.
Fine Chesil debuts are made by Max Homan, as the maturing son who needs to fit in, and Matthew Ellison, as the commissar, embodying the new realities with just the right amount of sneaking regard for the man in his power.
