‘I Take Your Hand In Mine’: Where Silence Speaks Louder Than Words
The best way I can describe how I Take Your Hand in Mine made me feel is this: like listening to your grandparents tell you the story of their lives on a slow Saturday afternoon. This cozy yet gripping production follows two real historical figures: Anton Chekhov (Richard Sheridan Willis), a renowned playwright, and Olga Knipper (Rena Polley), a famous theatre actor. In the play, they navigate the push and pull of life in the theatre world together. The audience first meets them, seemingly in the present day despite both their deaths in the 20th century, as they look back to the past. We learn the true story of these character’s careers and romance from the perspective of the over 400 letters they exchanged. Written by Carol Rocamora and directed by Dmitry Zhukovsky, Theatre Kingston‘s production unfolds as a tender and beautifully crafted piece of theatre history.
In this day and age of constant technology, this simple production, featuring no breaks and no background music, feels like a refreshing palate cleanser. Ninety minutes of pure acting with no interruptions to keep the audience interested is a big ask, but silence between the two actors’ lines make the play all the more intense. You get so absorbed in the story that the time goes by surprisingly quickly. With only ever Polley and Willis on stage, the play relies entirely on their performances, and they handle that responsibility extremely well. They shift moods with no awkwardness, moving from quiet to giddy while keeping the audience entranced. Even small pauses or changes in tone are impactful given the silence of the theatre.
Of the two performers on stage, Polley delivers the most consistently mood-shifting moments. She plays her character in a relatable and genuinely likeable way. Her infectious enthusiasm and quick emotional transformations set the overall tone of the production, giving the story a genuine lived-in feeling. No matter the volume of her voice, her words seem to linger in the room, giving the audience time to sit with each thought and feel the tension behind it. Polley also captures the complicated relationship many performers have with theatre itself. Her character’s excitement, frustration, and vulnerability all feel real, allowing the audience to empathize with her from the start.
Like Polley, Willis delivers his lines in a way that makes it clear his character has a deep and honest love for the theatre, but from a different angle—that of a playwright. His energy on stage contrasts Polley’s shifts with a steadier, more grounded presence. Willis also captures a sense of being misunderstood, which fits his character’s distance from the on stage side of theatre. Because he spends so much of the show in a calm and composed state, the moment when Chekhov finally bursts out in anger is incredibly shocking, not just because it is so loud in the quiet room, but because it is so different from his previously composed personality.
The staging reflects the simplicity of the actors’ performances perfectly. The set itself is composed of a simple painted wall and chairs. With Chekhov mainly residing in Yalta and Olga in Moscow, the nearly 2000 km distance between the two was a significant area of concern in their relationship. Despite that, the actual distance between the characters on stage reflects how close or far they feel both physically and emotionally, a smart touch considering the play unfolds through reading letters. Whether the characters are embracing, brushing hands, or standing on opposite sides of the stage facing away from each other, these choices make the relationship and settings easier to follow visually and give the scenes a sense of movement in the absence of dynamic and changing production elements.
In the end, I Take Your Hand in Mine is a masterful play. Its simple two-actor cast, minimal staging, and lack of music could have felt limiting, but instead was its greatest strength. The fluid shifts in the mood by Polley and Willis keep the audience fully engaged from start to finish. These choices make the story relatable, allowing both characters’ personalities and their relationship to shine without any distractions. By relying entirely on performance, timing, and intentional silence, the play proves that sometimes even the simplest approach can give a performance so much depth.
‘I Take Your Hand in Mine’ runs at the Grand Theatre from November 12-November 22, 2025. More information can be found here.
