The Silence of the Lambs - Tell When the Screaming Stops

A brooding wash of deep, resonating bass white noise was playing as we entered the auditorium as if warning the senses of the drama to enfold. The cloth had a projection of newspaper clippings of real-life serial killer Ted Bundy’s crimes, which changed to clippings of the fictional character Buffalo Bill’s crimes. All this before the play started preparing us for the tale to be told.

The storyline, for those who haven’t read the book or seen the film, revolves around rookie FBI agent Clarice Starling investigating Buffalo Bill’s killing spree, hopefully to bring it to an end. Sent to interview top psychologist and convicted serial killer Hannibal Lecter, she builds up a relationship with him as he helps her find the killer. All the while, however, despite being told to reveal nothing to him, Lecter is slowly getting into her mind, threatening her career and possibly her life.

Staying largely true to Thomas Harris’ book, rather than the subsequent Academy Award-winning film, Gina Gionfriddo’s play is dark and foreboding, with much attention on the relationship between Lecter and Clarice. The set is wonderfully inventive, with multi-levels used for various scenes, and Lecter’s cell is an illuminated box which slowly becomes more visible as the relationship between himself and Clarice grows. The set is enhanced by Howard Hudson’s lighting, creating the dark nature of the subject with video projections, and by George Reeve, playing into Bill’s relationship with his mother.

Some of the subject plays on the early 80s climate of sexism, with FBI lead agent Jack Crawford seeming to lean on Clarice to ingratiate herself with Lecter to obtain the information they need. But overall, it is the psychological games that Lecter plays that make the play so enthralling. Yes, there are shocks and gruesome scenes and details, but in all this is a psychological thriller of the highest quality.

John Partridge’s portrayal of Dr Hannibal Lecter is wonderful, as he commands the stage from his glowing glass cage, being menacing and benign at the same time. Mollie Jackson, meanwhile, plays Clarice Staring with quiet self-assurance, revealing bits of her past to elicit information, but all the while being manipulated by Lecter. I couldn’t help but be amazed that this is Mollie’s first professional stage role, playing opposite a man with a wealth of stage experience but not being overshadowed. Like the play itself, it was like watching a master and pupil in their relationship, as both the characters and actors passed their knowledge and experience onto a new generation.

Oliver Farnworth plays Jack Crawford as a counterpoint to Lecter. The older FBI agent both sees Clarice’s potential; he sends her on the assignment, despite an unrevealed relationship between himself and Lecter that he fears may affect her.

Meanwhile, Sam Jackson’s portrayal of Jame ‘Buffalo Bill’ Gumb was perfectly nuanced, with his relationship with his dead mother verging on an Oedipus complex. His fixation with her fur coat, the film of her and the need to be near her and the feeling he had been rejected. A performance that asks the audience to show a little sympathy for how life has led him to this point.

There is so much to think about in this production that could have you talking for hours: Lecter and Clarice’s relationship, similarities between Clarice and Gumb’s backgrounds, the sexism inherent in the system, and the relationship between Buffalo Bill’s last intended victim, Catherine, and her mother, Senator Ruth Martin. But this is a play I urge you to see. It is not a shock fest but a wonderfully balanced and acted psychological thriller with memorable performances throughout. A play about relationships, how we nurture them, what we learn from them and how they fundamentally affect us.



The Silence of the Lambs Bradford Alhambra until Sat 17th October.

Then moves to Hull New Theatre November 2nd to November 7th

Blackpool Grand Theatre January 11th to January 16th 2027

York Grand Opera House March 15th to March 20th 2027

Sheffield Lyceum Theatre May 4th to May 8th

Liverpool Empire June 15th to June 19th

Sunderland Empire June 21st to June 26th 2027