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An absolutely exceptional piece of work that explores understanding of grief, absence and communication with humanity, humour and even through its very form.Summary
Rating
Unmissable!
Oh how I love MimeLondon! As part of this festival, we are brought Ad Infinitum’s Last Rites,whichis an utterly exceptional piece of work. It tells the tale of a man who, as eldest son, is asked to perform Hindu burial rites for his deceased father. The story deals sensitively and evocatively with ideas of grief, communication and personal legacy as the character remembers their troubled relationship, and contemplates how it could have been different. As a deaf child, he had only learned of the existence of sign language when eight years old at school, and even then his father refused to communicate by signing with him. Differences ensued, but after a prolonged absence, he returns for his father’s funeral, bringing his own son.
Ramesh Meyyappan’s solo performance is truly outstanding. He signs the production partly in BSL and partly in ASL, whilst interacting synchronously with creative captioning projected at huge scale, and creating a complex weave of understandings. His physicality is remarkable and engaging, at times deeply moving, charming or playful, but always flawless, focused and detailed, with every joint, every digit speaking of the experiences undergone. It’s captivating.
Meyyappan transforms seamlessly between intergenerational characters, fully embodying each person before he skilfully shifts to the next. He morphs from a young boy to an ailing father and even into a potential bride. It’s impressive how he and they share simultaneous space in a remembered world. At points he washes the body of his dead father, his own hand becoming that of the absent corpse, and as he lifts the father’s head the imagined weight of his body is almost tangible. You could believe that the towel he wrings out is actually present, it is so brilliantly embodied in the performance. All the while, he relates his painful story with searing emotion and humanity.
George Mann’s direction is absolutely impeccable, using every part of the stage at multiple levels – particularly in the performance, but also in creating new atmospheres and spaces using clever lighting and visuals. Additional technological and linguistic layers supplement the storytelling, making this so much more than just a standard play. The enormous creative captioning, in particular, gives clarity to the dialogue by using different typefaces for each character and colour to represent emotion or violence, along with visible restructuring of text that enacts the story through its own movement. Innovative and striking use of video imagery, sound and lighting capture cross-cultural divergence. Precision design features range from simple black and white lighting defining a rectangular deathbed, to the epic golden glory of a temple, to a recurring visual suggestion of the Hindu burial rite of submerging underwater with the ashes of the dead.
The sound is wonderfully atmospheric, offering everything from moments of simple white noise to vivacious Indian party music. It is beautifully bound in with the visuals, and at times the bass is deeply resonant, offering an additional sensory connection with the audience, and most particularly for deaf, Deaf and hard of hearing audience members.
Last Rites brilliantly fuses alternative ways of understanding, using a combination of forms of communication to enact vivid emotional experience and cultural differences. What makes it even more special is how it first investigates themes of restriction, control and negativity, but then responds to negate them by opening up the story, inviting a much wider audience into the conversation through its very performance. Its own inclusive form transforms who the audience can be, as well as what the story’s conclusion might be in the future. An insightful tale with acute human resonances, this is a highly entertaining, stunningly executed and emotionally affective production that is not to be missed.
Produced by Ad Infinitum
Co-created by Ramesh Meyyappan and George Mann
Directed by George Mann
Last Rites has ended its run at Shoreditch Town Hall as part of MimeLondon 2024.
MimeLondon supports collaborations of contemporary visual theatre in partnership with venues in London. Its first season takes place in Jan/Feb 2024 with 8 productions new to London.
