Review: Taverna Miresia, Coronet Theatre

Acclaimed actor/director Mario Banushi brings his semi-autobiographical work Taverna Miresia to the Coronet Theatre, written as a response to the death of his father, a cook and tavern owner. At the time he found himself the only man in a house of grieving women and the work reflects this. Central to the piece is the tavern sign, its name ‘Miresia’ meaning ‘kindness’ in Albanian. This is an extraordinary, non-verbal work that invites us into spaces left by death, where grieving takes multiple, sometimes surprising, forms.

We find ourselves in a tiled bathroom where Banushi himself emerges from the shower, dries and dresses for a funeral. Throughout he is part contributor, part observer, sometimes skulking in the shadows; almost voyeuristic.

Blackouts delineate scene changes, and quickly a grave is revealed within the home, the family of women sitting beside it. Banushi pulls a coat from the soil and his father is here both in memory and in representation. It’s a fiercely affective beginning, and the emotion of loss is palpable from all.

The production discloses a family negotiating their different ways of managing grief, both as individuals and with each other. Episodic sequences capture their emotions, their conflict, their memories, shifting from harsh realities to surreal interpretations. Relationships are snap-shotted in often simple enactments: the stepmother sitting companionably taking lunch with a coat on an empty chair; the tavern sign, flickering and now disengaged, floats disruptively in the darkness, similarly to the father both absent and yet present in memory.

There’s a visceral quality to the production and some spectacular performances from the entire cast (Savina Yannatou, Chryssi Vidalaki, Katerina Kristo, Eftychia Stefanou, Banushi) who delve fearlessly into what it is to be human, familial, exposed, vulnerable, or at times even animal in the descent into grief. Banushi beautifully captures the mundane events and needs that continue to exist beside the extremities of grief – the comedy of eating a boiled egg or using the toilet – and this underscores the core humanity of the piece.

Stark beauty and carnivalesque human baseness are juxtaposed in an often visually stunning aesthetic that is almost cinematic. Eliza Alexandropoulou’s lighting design in particular redefines the stage and atmospheres skilfully, reimagining the single space to visualise multiple different mindsets and experiences and suggest temporal flux. The borders of this household’s world are reshaped in grief.

Music by Jeph Vanger is also an absolute standout; haunting and urgent. Moving, passionate singing by the women is interspersed with just the sound of a radio or deep silences as states of emotional being fluctuate. The soundscape enhances the storytelling, giving a breadth of accessibility to the narrative.

Taverna Miresia is without a doubt a show that pushes boundaries as it explores the expression of understanding bereavement in its many shapes and at multiple levels, from the everyday to the intensely surreal. However, the form of the play travels some distance from where it starts to reach an ending where it becomes increasingly bizarre, and it perhaps intentionally loses definition and becomes non-human. Come the close I found I no longer really sensed the grief that was present initially. Although I saw the passion, the self-reflection, the exposed, visceral humanity that emanates from loss, the hallucinatory sense of the production and the rather peculiar ending, left to the individual to interpret, ultimately detached me from the idea of grieving.

Banushi has created an intrepid piece of work that deep dives into the essence of bereavement, simultaneously and unflinchingly setting out family history and relationships with visual prowess and through impressive, often startling performances. How it makes you feel is then down to you.

Conceived and Directed by Mario Banushi
Set & Costume Design by Sotiris Melanos
Lighting Design by Eliza Alexandropoulou
Original Music by Jeph Vanger
In collaboration with Theatro sti Sala

Taverna Miresia plays at The Coronet Theatre until Saturday 7 June.