Life and death, love and loss, birth and miscarriage are all explored in this visual cycle of life.
The beautiful nature of mundane domesticity feels fresh and uplifting in a piece that is in equal parts tragic and hopeful.
Birth deals with the familial stories of three generations of women and their partners. Parallels are drawn between each woman’s experience as told through a handed down dairy.
From critically acclaimed Theatre Ru and directed by Guillaume Page, this play is devised. The cast made up of Eygló Belafonte, Vyte Garriga, Claudia Marciano, Charles Sandford and Andres Velasquez are tightly knit as the intergenerational family. They move their bodies with the precision of ballet dancers and the emotional of classically trained actors.
Partnered with Anyone Everymum, a campaign group which supports those going through pregnancy loss, Birth deals with what happens when loss comes at a time of would-be elation when life does not go as planned and tragedy seeps into the bliss of young love. One can only imagine the effect of the piece for someone who has experienced a similar loss.
Birth uses movement to tell these stories because words have failed. It deals with the parts of life that pass unspoken but sit heavy, the secrets shared across generations. Theatre Ru has collaborated with professors from ULC and Kent to explore the question ‘when does memory begin?’ In this play, the symbolism of simple gesture, repeated movement and brilliant props resonate more than words could.
What is more, simple and elegant set design creates an effective tool for the transitions between generations and the raw emotions of the characters. The smooth use of props and a central, unmoving table, ensure that as an hour of physical theatre passes with variety and pace. Props and set form an essential part of this visual theatre. Crucially, a single white sheet repeatedly billows across the stage, manipulated by a meticulously directed and rehearsed cast. The original use of the sheet allows huge swathes of time to pass and actors to switch in an out of view unnoticed.
Continual evocative live music from Alex Judd was sensational and perfectly twinned with the physicality of the actors. The music and the sense of time passing give Birth a cinematic scope with balletic visuals.
The beautiful nature of mundane domesticity feels fresh and uplifting in a piece that is in equal parts tragic and hopeful. The creatives involved in Birth have polished every dimension of this piece; it truly deserved the standing ovation it got, as people were moved to tears and rendered speechless.
