Review of Conspiracy of Silence Review

In creating this portrayal of modern Brazilian political history Tereza Briggs-Novaes, has both shown how the political is always personal and has also created a credible, strong female character in the role of Dr. Santana, intelligently brought to life by fellow Planet London contributor, Victoria Broom. Although we tend to think of the Cold War as played out between Europe and the Us, South America, Asia and Africa were all sucked into the battle of ideologies with Brazil being run by a military dictatorship from 1966 to 1985. Unlike South Africa there has been no truth and reconciliation committee in Brazil so the neglected stories of the past haunt not only the state but also the individuals who make up that state, whether they were directly involved at the time or not.

Captain Sergio Seirip, (John Ioannou), arrives at the office of Dr. Santana, (A successful psychiatrist.), in need of sleeping tablets. For the first time in nearly seventy years of living he cannot sleep at night. Instead he is woken by dreams where he finds himself the only living person in a cemetery of mutilated corpses. We are led to believe that this is the consequence of being the driver in the crash which killed his wife but we soon discover that his memory is selective, he is an unreliable narrator of his own life and by extension of Brazil’s history. As the sharp brained questioning from Dr. Santana forces him to peel away the layers of his carefully constructed history we learn that there were two crashes in the life of this genteel elderly man who likes to think of himself as one who avoided the excesses of the past and more than one dead body. The height of this play comes when we learn just how intertwined the actions of a previous political regime, (Carried out by Captain Seirip), are with the life of Dr. Santana, a child at the time. Both Victoria Broom and John Ioannou, are excellently cast in what is a demanding piece of drama. Victoria, on stage for the entire action of the play, has to take us through the emotional and intellectual journey of a woman who is finally presented with the opportunity to learn the truth of what happened during her early years but must do so in a way which allows her to protect her professional standards as a psychiatrist. To abandon those morals would be the first step in becoming no different to the torturers from her childhood.

It is a tribute to the production values of this tiny fringe venue and Victoria’s skills as an actor, that Victoria is always believable in this demanding space. Dr. Santana is on stage throughout the performance, given the size of the stage and the closeness of the audience there really is nowhere for a performer to hide and she must carry the pace and energy of the show when alone on stage save. It is good to see that both Victoria and John, in the capable hands of director Sergio Amigo, have opted for a stripped back style of acting which expects commitment from the audience and adds much to the production. Victoria could easily fall back on emoting wildly as a woman wronged, instead her subtle acting nudges us in the correct direction and we discover the truths of Brazil’s recent history and her childhood step by step with Dr. Santana

That Sergio Amigo is not prepared to put all the answers on a plate for us is no surprise once you know a little of the history of the theatre. Originally the long running Calder Bookshop the owner, John Calder, helped to ensure that the lease went not to another sandwich shop but to the current owners. In 2011 The Calder Bookshop & Theatre opened its doors as a brand new forty seater fringe venue committed to political theatre, the theatre also double as a charity working with ex-offenders. If you want to see good theatre well acted with then go and see Victoria in “Conspiracy of Silence” it’s a rare treat.

Review by Laura Alexander


You can watch Conspiracy of Silence every Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday From September 20th to October 8th at 8pm at The Calder Bookshop and Theatre. Tickets: £10, £8 conc. To reserve your ticket call 020 7620 2900 or email info@calderbookshop.com.