Speechless
The astonishing story of “the silent twins” was told in a book by Marjorie Wallace, and this overwhelming new play by Linda Brogan and Polly Teale (who also directs) distils the dramatic essence.
June and Jennifer Gibbons, identical twin daughters of a respectable West Indian couple, turn a deaf ear to an alienating, racist environment at home and at school, and communicate only with each other.
They embark on a course of crime and destruction while also acting out the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in their bedroom, with Barbie dolls, and going completely berserk while their mother watches the wedding of Charles and Di on television.
The catalyst for their outbreak in sex and drugs is a spoilt rich American kid, played chillingly and extrovertly by a fit-looking Alex Waldmann.
Natasha Gordon and Demi Oyediran are superb as the twins, sullen and frightening, and there’s a fantastically messy scene change that sets up the catastrophe just perfectly. This one has “Fringe First” written all over it.
