Two rival sisters, Anna and Ester, are on their way home to Sweden with Johan, Anna's son. Esther falls ill and they are forced to interrupt their journey, in a foreign land on the outskirts of Europe. This fictional environment called Timoka is a mysterious place where the locals speak a language that the three do not understand.

The country seems to be on the brink of a civil war. Inside the hotel, another conflict rages, the one between the sisters. They are desperately trying to understand their surroundings and themselves. And left unattended, the child wanders around the hotel corridors, meets the other guests and weaves together the fragments of the adults' enigmatic world.

The Silence is a beautiful sad allegory about human inability. An examination of boundaries, language, sex, intimacy, submission, dominance, guilt and freedom. The Silence is a cry for understanding.

The Silence premiered on 5th November 2021 at Göteborgs Stadteater.

Main photograph: Olga Kjelbye

Adapted from the film by MARK O’HALLORAN and DEAD CENTRE

Publisher INGMAR BERGMAN FOUNDATION

Cast
MIA HÖGLUND-MELIN 
SANDRA REDLAFF 
CHRISTER FJELLSTRÖM 
RAMTIN PARVANEH
KARIN LYCKE
BERNA INCEOGLU
ANNA JUKIĆ

Stage Design JEREMY HERBERT
Video Design GRANT GEE
Sound and Music KEVIN GLEESON
Light Design MAX MITLE
Makeup Design PATRICIA SVAJGER

Director BUSH MOUKARZEL 
Assistant Director GEMMA CARBONE
Dramaturgs JOEL NORDSTRÖM, BEN KIDD

THE SILENCE is a Göteborgs Stadteater production. The production is part of the European theater project Prospero Extended Theater , which is co-financed by the EU program Creative Europe.

IMAGES
All photographs: Olga Kjelbye

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