In “Silence,” Moira Buffini wants theatergoers to think. About power. About sex. About religion. And most of all, about gender — and how power, sex and religion intersect with the idea of gender. Potent stuff.
“Silence” is onstage at Timucua Arts Foundation this weekend in an intriguing production from Lightup Shoebox.
As seen at the dress rehearsal, director Clark Levi has opted for stripped-down style. The performers dress in black. Blocks and a bed make the set. Pantomime replaces props.
This stylized approach gives a fable-like quality to the tale, actually loosely inspired by some real events, and meshes nicely with Buffini’s storytelling. It also puts the focus on the playwright’s ideas, even if once or twice the miming leaves the audience a bit unsure what a character is actually meant to be doing.
The story is set more than 1,000 years ago in the British isles. The Vikings are raping and pillaging and ineffective King Ethelred (known to history as “The Unready”) is on the throne. Actually, he’s mostly just in bed, whining from under the covers. The king plans to marry off an obstinate princess, Ymma, to the Lord Silence, a plucky 14-year-old unknowingly keeping a big secret.
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Before long, events have Ymma, Silence, an unsettled priest, a devout maid and an intense knight careening through the English countryside together on a journey that is not only physical but emotional and spiritual, as well.
The gender divide is explored in multiple ways — through clothing, attitude, unexpected attractions and self-awareness. In a beautiful line, Ymma says to another character, “As a woman you’d have lost everything, as a man you have it all.”
Ymma is played with radiant fire by Billie Jane, who makes the most of the princess’s rages and subsequent contrition. She deftly conveys the character’s idea of love without sacrificing her aggressive edges. Sometimes, Levi lets that aggressive energy turn into too much shouting, but Jane finds even more power in the intensity of quieter moments.
Other actors leave strong impressions, as well. Vincent Powell compellingly falls apart before our eyes as a priest whose faith is shaken, and Powell appealingly leans into the Shakespearean overtones of the work (mixed with contemporary references and attitude) in his monologues. So does Bennett Morgan, whose King Ethelred morphs from bedridden crybaby to power-hungry murderer. (Is that what becoming a man means?)
Yinelly Pastrana offers a welcome wallop of heart, tempered with the right amount of sadness, as a maid who is vexed by her mistress. And Justin Rios’ unsettling, intense air creates a knight with an enigmatic vibe.
As Silence, Hayley Sanz is a ray of light, at first exuding the bravado of a teenage boy about to lose his virginity. But that soon morphs into something much deeper as Sanz shows — not tells — the audience a thing or two about living one’s own truth and following one’s own heart. It’s a beautifully layered performance.
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Descriptions of “Silence” invariably describe it as a dark comedy or dramedy, and there surely are funny moments in Levi’s Lightup Shoebox production. But maybe in a sign of these turbulent times, or with arts budget cuts and the presidential debate on the mind Thursday night, this production seemed to lean much heavier into the drama than the laughs.
That’s fine with me. It’s in the drama — the struggle of these characters and the unexpected moments life throws at them — that this production finds its power.
Follow me at facebook.com/matthew.j.palm or email me at mpalm@orlandosentinel.com. Find more arts news at OrlandoSentinel.com/entertainment.
‘Silence’
- Length: 2:30, including intermission
- Where: Timucua Arts Foundation, 2000 S. Summerlin Ave. in Orlando
- When: 7:30 p.m. June 28-29, 2:30 p.m. June 30
- Cost: $22.50
- Info: timucua.com (with details on discount and rush tickets)
