![](https://www.sardinesmagazine.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/2540_1472056819.jpeg)
Show: The Silence at the Song’s End
Society: Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Venue: Greenside@Nicholson Sq
Credits: Really Good Stories
Type: Sardines
Author: Chris Abbott
Performance Date: 24/08/2016
The Silence at the Song’s End
Chris Abbott | 24 Aug 2016 17:09pm
The church which becomes Greenside@Nicolson Sq provided a large playing area which was well used by the cast of The Silence at the Song’s End, a devised piece from Really Good Stories Theatre Company.
This was a totally appropriate match of performer and subject, with these young people, themselves poised between school and university, telling the story of someone of the same age who shared many of their fears and hopes, but also had to cope with the illness that eventually led to him taking his life. This young man’s story is told through his writings, discovered by his mother Libby Purves after his death, and known to many since their publication in book form.
With four actors sharing the role of Nicholas, and two others playing his sister and his mother, their words are most effectively enhanced by the musical score from Tom Attwood. Director Sarah Branston ensures that pace is maintained, sadness is balanced with humour, and the emphasis throughout is on the truthfulness of what is being portrayed, the visual symbols of ships, sails and sailing serving to unite the action as it takes its headlong path towards a sudden end.
The audience were gripped throughout and the final and stunning moment when the cast dropped the costume of Nicholas and spoke as themselves proved too much for the emotions of many. The apt title foreshadowed the silence at the end of the play, when the stunned audience sat in quiet reflection before breaking into the applause which was well-earned by all involved.
Catch it this week in Edinburgh if you can, and let’s hope there will be other opportunities for future audiences to see this superb performance which will share with many more people the ideas and writings of Nicholas Heiney.
- : admin
- : 24/08/2016