The Silence of the Sea is a second world war drama about the a different form of French resistance based on Vercors in an adaptation by Anthony Weigh. The two occupants of the farmhouse were forced to put up a German Officer and proceeded in a form of psychological torture of the officer by the silent treatment. This meant there were mostly speeches given by the officer and greet by silence from the other two and with the others having to express themselves through soliloquies This did not necessarily work as a theatre piece as the use of monologues strays into the realm of story telling. Also, I am not sure about the inclusion of the final coda to the play and whether it added anything to the narrative. However, this can be overlooked as the actors, tasked with long speeches and mainly reacting to blankness, with Leo Bill impressed with his strained sincerity but unable to mask the role of a representative from an occupier/aggressor. Finbar Lynch had the warmth to take the audience on his side but yet cold and impassive with faced with Bill’s character. Simona Bitmaté’s near silent role had a constant hurt and conflicted look about her without catharsis. There were one or two interesting points made about the dynamics of an occupying force with the occupied but this was mainly an actor’s play which suited the intimacy of the small studio theatre and an appropriate choice for the final play of the Donmar at the Trafalgar Studios season.
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