Nine years ago The Silence of Snow: The life of Patrick Hamilton had its premiere at the world-famous Edinburgh Fringe Festival, performed by its author Mark Farrelly. Since then numerous stagings followed in various places, and tonight is the 100st performance (congratulations!) at Brockley’s Jack Studio Theatre, one of London‘s finest pub theatres and worth travelling through the biting autumn rain.
Playwright and novel writer Patrick Hamilton was born in 1904 and observed society and politics in the first half of the last century with a talent for sharp wit and the ability of delivering timeless zeitgeist. His dysfunctional family, always torn between high ambitions and alcohol dependency, seems to have been an ideal brooding ground for intelligent lyricism, clever prose and sometimes cheeky, other times sarcastic commentary – Mark Farrelly constantly breaks the fourth wall, proving to the audience how relevant the publications written by an upcoming, young successful author in the 1930s still are. And indeed, his most successful plays like Gaslight and Rope are still staged in theatres globally, and have not lost any of their shocking, murderous nature. Later this month actually, Rope will be staged at London’s Union Theatre – I am almost sure the fellow audience member in her “Keep calm and read Patrick Hamilton” t-shirt will go and see it. And on Guy Fawkes Night, Mark Farrelly will perform The Silence Of Snow there as well again.
Alfred Hitchcock turned Hamilton’s maybe most famous play Rope into a successful film in the 1940s, known and respected for its one shot appearance (geeks know that amusingly the German film title tandems between Party and Cocktail For A Corpse but Hamilton’s works were often retitled when revived or put into a new format, also in English-language formats). Hamilton however despised Hitchcock’s cinematic masterpiece of suspense so much that he, after sharing his opinion on the red carpet with journalists, was not allowed to the after party of the movie premiere, resulting in one of many fabulous anecdotes about a writer’s life and challenges.
Famous names from that turbulent era are dropped non-stop, London boroughs and street names recalled by the minute. And the sheer amount of bon mots in his staged 70 minute biography guarantee Mark Farrelly the audience’s full attention: Brighton? The slutty younger sister of London. A mourning wife? Crying like a Bassett cutting onions. His precise acting reflects this style, with very creatively performed bed scenes for a monodrama, and powerful light effects all the way through. We hear of family, lovers and colleagues, of success and fame, and a far too late realisation that real friends were always lacking. When Hamilton’s life ends in 1962, his once humorous nature has turned from gutted cynicism and lonely alcoholism to a sad, sickly man, a shadow of his former self, going through electric shock treatments.
After every performance of The Silence Of Snow money is collected for the mental health champions at the Mind charity. I wish I’d brought some cash with me.
**** out of 5 stars
The Silence Of Snow: The Life of Patrick Hamilton was written and performed by Mark Farrelly
Played at the Jack Studio Theatre in October, tickets from £15 – more performance dates in London are scheduled for 2023, with further touring dates for 2024
Sadie takes the Stage 