How do you bring one of cinema’s most disturbing psychological thrillers to the stage?
That’s the challenge facing The Silence of the Lambs, which has arrived at Belfast’s Grand Opera House in a new adaptation of Thomas Harris’s bestselling novel.
While audiences will inevitably remember Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster in the Oscar-winning film, this production has plenty of surprises of its own.
For me, the biggest achievement of the evening was the staging.
The production makes incredibly clever use of the available space, taking the action deep into the theatre. Add excellent lighting effects and moving set pieces, and you have the setting for some thrilling scenes.
At several points, two scenes unfold simultaneously, with different strands of the story playing out side by side. It’s a fascinating way of telling the story without interrupting the flow of the performance.
And then there’s Hannibal Lecter’s cell.
Bright, clinical and imposing, it creates an unsettling setting for one of fiction’s most notorious characters.
John Partridge takes on the formidable role of Hannibal Lecter, a character so closely associated with Anthony Hopkins that comparisons are unavoidable.
John delivers a strong performance, although I didn’t find his Hannibal quite as menacing as the film version. Perhaps that’s partly down to the medium itself. Those intense cinematic close-ups simply can’t be replicated on stage.
Nevertheless, the chilling sight of Hannibal restrained in a straitjacket, his face concealed behind that infamous mask, is genuinely unsettling. But it's the moment he's freed from the straitjacket that delivers the real horror, with audience members quite literally raising their hands to their mouths in shock.
Mollie Gallagher, familiar as Nina Lucas, the goth character from Coronation Street, makes an impressive transition to FBI trainee Clarice Starling.
It’s quite a shift from Weatherfield, but Mollie is excellent as Clarice becomes increasingly drawn into a disturbing investigation.
And then there’s Jame Gumb, otherwise known as Buffalo Bill.
Played by Sam Jackson, he is perhaps the most sinister presence in the production. Frequently appearing on stage while other scenes unfold alongside him, his menacing presence becomes a constant reminder of the horror at the centre of the story.
The intelligent staging and strong performances give this familiar story a theatrical identity of its own.
A chilling, cleverly staged and occasionally shocking evening at the theatre.
The Silence of the Lambs runs at Belfast’s Grand Opera House from 10 to 14 November 2026.
