Bringing a creative justice to the stories of the missing in Argentina

Rewind at the North Wall, Oxford, on Thursday, April 18 and Friday 19

Review by JON LEWIS

RAMON Ayres’ Ephemeral Ensemble devised production Rewind displays a vivacious and compulsive beauty that is intentionally at odds with the horrific subject matter of the play.

In a prelude, Colombian actor Andreas Vasquez explains the context; his and Ayres’ country (Brazil), and other countries in Latin America, especially Argentina where the action is set, have experienced ‘disappearances’ under dictatorships.

Decades later, under periods of democracy, forensic teams retrieved the bones, skulls and clothes of the victims, piecing together clues to reconstruct their identities. Rewind, as the title suggests, literally and metaphorically, dramatises the processes of rewinding the past with fluid movement, catchy South American melodies (live musician, Alex Paton) and a dazzling overhead projector display.

Colourful lanterns hang above the stage creating a village fiesta. The Madres de la Plaza de Mayo, the grieving women wearing white headscarves, seeking to learn the truth about their disappeared children, protest against the government.

One woman’s daughter, Alicia Dominguez, whose photograph is carried on demonstrations, is later found by the forensic team. Her skeleton and items of clothing become a macabre puppet in dazzling scenes reminiscent of the Day of the Dead celebrations.

We see how Alicia was murdered. She’s present, masked, at sites of rebellion. The word ‘justicia’ is sprayed on to a wall. She, and other young people are then treated to brutality from the police. Scenes of violence are rewound as protester after protester is murdered, sprays of paper strewn over the falling bodies. It’s superb theatre, the incessant music reverberating throughout the theatre with its Latin beats, and images of watery blood trickling over Alicia’s photograph projected on to the screen.

The traumas of the past are then reflected in the testimony in court of the lead forensic expert Dr Hernandez. He gives evidence from his findings as he rewinds Alicia’s story. It’s as if the doctor in the witness stand feels Alicia’s pain. The shock of the anger when the music finally stops, is palpable.

The cast of Vasquez, Paton, Eyglo Belafonte, Josephine Tremelling and Louise Wilcox, bring a creative justice to the stories of the missing in Argentina.

Excellent.