BBC Radio 4, 3 May 2008

Anthony Minghella’s award-winning play, first broadcast in 1988, concerns Gemma (Jenny Howe) who refuses to speak after a certain period, much to the chagrin of her family and friends. The piece was a study in how a woman copes with a world that appeared more and more indifferent; where words no longer functioned as a means of communication, but rather used to obfuscate, deceive or mislead. Minghella’s focus was less on Gemma herself, but on her friends’ insecurities and inability to communicate their emotions. Gemma became a silent witness to their shortcomings. The title derived from Gemma’s repeated attempts to cope with the world – at first she tried cigarettes, and then chocolate, but discovered in the end that silence is the best method.  Minghella’s play was a typical product of late 1980s Thatcherite culture, where money alone matters and people paid short shrift to things such as emotions. One wonders whether that culture still exists two decades later.