In 1989 the 35 year old Stroessner dictatorship in Paraguay, South America’s most notorious and durable police state, was overthrown. With one of the most documented archives of the oppressive terrors that plagued the country (second only to the archives of Nazi Germany) Paraguay, known as the country of deafening silence, remains unheard of and the crimes remain unpunished. The stories of thousands who lost their lives or who were tortured and imprisoned go unheard in a country where fear still prevails. The Art of Silence, a psychological-political drama, documents some of the realities and horrors faced by political prisoners. Following the story of Emilio Barreto, arrested without charge and never allowed a trial, he was imprisoned for 13 years; 11 of those years in a cell 4 by 2. metres 5 shared with numerous others in any given time, the remaining years based in a concentration camp. Emilio was severely tortured, as was his wife, and on release prohibited from the rights of ordinary citizens. Now, more than 40 years later his story is told. 

The play follows the different stages of resistance and acceptance, of struggle and relinquishment that Emilio experienced during the eight year period of cell confinement and how he tried to keep his mind active and his imagination free. The play aims to show, indirectly, the effect of the imprisonment and torture on an individual, the means used to survive and the nature of that survival and the price paid for it mentally. All events are focused on the mental activity and reaction of the actors to the implied action as the older Emilio confronts his younger self.

The play has been described in newspapers in South America and the UK as: 'the terrible power of watching human suffering and defiance so starkly represented’, ‘a tough play to watch … and so it should be’, ‘a rare thing’, ‘an uncompromising and unrelenting experience’, ‘an effective and moving production’, ‘a harrowing reminder - tells of horrors past and present and reminds us how little we have changed over the years’, ‘an exceptional piece of writing’, ‘intense and moving’, ‘a bold script’.