Jack Studio Theatre 12 – 16 March
Reviewed by Claire Roderick
4****
Mark Farrelly’s play opens with Patrick Hamilton waiting to begin his Electroconvulsive Therapy in a futile attempt to stem his alcoholism and depression. As people enter the theatre, he appears broken and almost catatonic – until Hamilton realises he has an audience on which to sharpen his coruscating wit.
Hamilton’s early success writing Rope and Gaslight must have been a nightmare for his monstrous father, a failed novelist whose self-proclaimed genius was never recognised. Farrelly slips into caricatures of Hamilton’s parents to great comic effect, managing to portray the broken dynamics of the family and the childhood issues that contributed to his mental health problems with admittedly broad brushstrokes.
Farrelly inserts some of Hamilton’s writing into the play so that the audience never forget the talent of this flawed man, but the story he tells of his life is sobering. Hamilton’s pursuit of pleasure and fun, his growing dependency on alcohol and the ever-present threat of the black dog returning mix together into a cocktail of scathing, cruel wit aimed inward as well as at those around him. Farrelly always manages to throw in a curveball just as Hamilton is becoming thoughtful and sympathetic to the audience, reminding them how erratic and frustrating being around a depressed alcoholic can be. But through it all, Farrelly ensures that Hamilton, even as he lurches, quite literally, from one physical or emotional disaster to the next, is never pitiable. At his cruellest – to his wives and brother – he is still burning with energy and wit, and his acceptance that he must seek help as he is, in his doctor’s words “committing suicide in instalments” brings hope, but there is no happy ending.
The Silence of Snow isn’t a comfortable play to watch, but Farrelly’s sharp, insightful and witty writing, and his magnificent acting linger long in the mind.