Fresh from a triumphant Fringe First at the coveted Traverse Theatre at this year's Edinburgh festival Shared Experience and Sherman Cymru's production of " Speechless" returned for a run at the Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff.
Linda Brogan and Polly Teale's play based on Marjorie Williams book " The Silent Twins" explores the strange, true story of June and Jennifer Gibbons. These identical black twins were perfectly capable of speaking but after going to school they jointly elected never to talk to adults.
This ninety minute piece split into two distinct segments. We witnessed the story of two adolescent sisters going through puberty together and then how they silently dealt with their mother, teachers and a loud Canadian male youth.
It is never less than intruguing with good performances, especially from Demi Oyediran and Natasha Gordon as the sisters and Emma Handy as their caring and sympathetic teacher. Director Polly Teale wisely elects not to weaken the growing intensity of the play with an interval but surprises us all with an abrupt ending. This was made even more frustrating with the realisation that there was no real attempt to explain the reasons for the sister's dramatic action. A previous brief mention of racial bullying at school didn't seem sufficient for such an extreme reaction.
However, good drama should encourage debate and "Speechless" certainly scored in this area as I enjoyed a lively discussion regarding what had happened and more importantly what happens next, an area which oddly was never tackled.
Overall, an interesting and unusual subject but it left us cold. A gallant attempt but not I thought worthy of the critical acclaim it received in Scotland.
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