The Stage – 5 April 2001

The Silent Treatment, written and directed by former Stage Best Actor award winner Chris Pickles, chronicles the darker aspects of family life. Euan Morton is starring as teenage son Andy.

“It’s a kind of domestic family in the north of England somewhere; they sit and watch telly every day,” says Euan, who is from Bo’Ness near Edinburgh.

“The first half is literally a living room drama. It gradually builds up and it’s about abuse.

“The neighbour comes around and he’s the catalyst in facing up to things. The mother is mute throughout the first half, but in the second half she describes her thoughts through monologues.”

Euan, who trained at Mountview Theatre School, continues: “She never actually talks directly to anyone, the audience is her friend.

“We go through the actions while she says what was going on in her head in the first half. We are seeing it from a different point of view.

“It’s not miming but almost dancing for the rest of us. We all came in not knowing really how it was going to work. It looks really striking and if we pull it off, it could be amazing.”

Andy seems to be the typical teenager who hates life, says Euan, but his relationship with his girlfriend turns nasty and “you begin to understand why he has turned out as he has”.

“I’d like the audiences to leave with a sense of wrongdoing, that this does happen next door. It’s a subject that’s talked about, but never dealt with.”