Review: The Silence of Snow, Bridge House Theatre

Review: The Silence of Snow, Bridge House Theatre

Summary

Rating

100

Unmissable!

An extraordinary piece of writing, performed faultlessly by the writer, this is a spellbinding event that examines the human condition and its frailty.

Patrick Hamilton, played by Mark Farrelly, sits in the middle of the stage wearing a straightjacket. Head down, he imperceptibly waits as the audience arrives, occasionally swigging from a bottle of whisky. Props are limited to the chair he sits on and a blanket hung over the back.

This is black box studio minimalist theatre at its finest. A soundtrack starts, with the honeyed tones of Ella Fitzgerald recreating the ambience of the early thirties: other than sublime lighting changes, this is the extent of the set that supports Farrelly for seventy minutes. And what a seventy minutes.

He performs the life story of Patrick Hamilton, acclaimed writer and respected peer of Graham Greene and JB Priestly. Hamilton wrote both novels and plays, was likened to Dickens by one of his publishers, and displays a dark and acerbic sense of humour throughout his work. He is also an alcoholic, and his autobiographical monologue starts from the waiting room as he waits for his third (and final) treatment of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), which is his “last chance” to recover from his alcohol dependence. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t work.

The most deft of scripts, it weaves autobiographical details and influences into the narrative, mercurially incorporating them into Hamilton’s literary works, references of which pepper the tale. All this whilst throwing out snippets of Hamilton’s political and personal motivations that any aficionado of the man would recognise (and any non-aficionado can look up…).

Farrelly himself is beyond accomplished. Comfortable with the (disappointingly small) audience, he is nuanced and deliberate. He passes in and out of the crowd, addressing most of us directly at some point, whilst exhibiting a number of Hamilton’s inner demons seamlessly. He transforms from joker to shouter, small boy to adult, father to son. In perfect synchronisation with the soundtrack, he is in a serious and disfiguring car crash, moves between love affairs, and enacts his matrimonial initiation to sex with both humour and honesty. He is subtle and brash. And in doing all this he manifests the contradictory polemic of an alcoholic. In each incarnation he is nothing other than real.

I cannot find a fault with this performance, and thus by inference its writer and performer Farrelly. It is rare to find a production that has been so thoughtfully put together and subtly written whilst being performed with such prowess and distinction. I am just genuinely sorry the audience was so meagre tonight because it deserves much, much more. This is a drama that explores the limitation and frailty of human life and our desire to make a difference, to matter. In the words of the play: “why do so many of us get through life without feeling we ever truly knew another person?”

Written in 2014, Farrelly asked his best friend, Tim Welling, to review the play after writing. Tim was highly complimentary and promised to be there for its first public outing, but he then took his own life shortly after that conversation. Farrelly now dedicates each performance to Tim and a collection from the audience for MIND is donated at the end of the show. Farrelly has amassed over £10,000 to date. 

This might be a play about a successful writer who doubted himself and had demons, but it is also a play about the human condition and our need to make a lasting difference in the world. It deserves a much bigger audience and would easily translate to a larger stage. I do hope this happens.

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Written by: Mark Farrelly
Directed by: Linda Marlowe

The Silence of Snow plays at Bridge House Theatre until 26 November. Further information and bookings can be found here.