Getting justice from the grave
Photo: Matthew Hodgkin
Daniel Nelson
Rewind is a disturbingly powerful and moving one-hour production that makes disinterred bones speak.
No, it makes disinterred bones cry out for justice.
It focuses on the brief life and violent death of a young Argentian woman and her grieving mother, but it stands for the thousands of democracy activists and environmental defenders murdered by Latin American militaries, by armies and governments worldwide.
It’s a play about forensic anthropologists collecting, cleaning and analysing bones, many extracted from intermingled skeletons in mass graves.
“We need to keep telling the stories [of the murdered rights’ protesters], so nobody forgets,” a member of the six-strong Ephemeral Ensemble tells the audience at the beginning. “By digging out the past we will build a future.”
At the end, the same performer, from Colombia - a country responsible for almost half the world total of murdered environmental rights activists - says he hopes we have enjoyed the show.
Enjoyed? After watching a murder that though dramatised through metaphor is shocking? After watching a grieving mother forcing herself to accept the dreadful truth of her dead daughter’s body parts and clothes? Strangely, yes, because though I felt overwhelming, unassuageable anger towards the killers — some of them former student colleagues of the victim — and a sense of hopelessness about human depravity, the magic of theatre produces pleasure even amidst portrayal of pain.
Because magic there is: a talking skeleton, stomping music, exuberant dancing, human tenderness, simple but devastating effects from lamps and silhouettes and confetti showers representing bone-breaking blows.
Ephemeral Ensemble, the collective responsible for the production, has created a gripping, entertaining, vital presentation.
Terrifying. Brilliant.
Justicia.
* Rewind, £15/£17/£3 jobless and on strike, New Diorama Theatre, 15 -16 Triton Street, Regent’s Place, NW1 3BF, until 10 February. Info: New Diorama
“Ephemeral Ensemble are a global majority-led physical theatre ensemble. We make work driven by a theme or a question, which inspires us to find fact-based stories that shine a light on current hidden social issues. Collaboration between the artistic team, the community and professionals in other fields is vital to our process. Our work is political, visually striking, highly dynamic, thought provoking and moving at heart. We combine the high physicality of the performers, original music and playful interaction with the stagecraft to create a narrative.
“REWIND is partly inspired by El Equipo Argentino de Antropología Forense – an organisation dedicated to identifying the remains of victims of human rights abuses in Latin America, whose revolutionary work was recognised with a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020.”