Showing @ QMU, Studio Theatre, Wed 30 March @ 18:15, Thu 31 March @ 19:45 & Sat 2 April @ 15:45
As university education and employment face unsteady and shadowy futures, comfort can be found in retracing our steps to the blissful ignorance of childhood innocence. Sharon Beck’s graduate show Neme, written by Hannah Mackechnie, fuses puppetry, storytelling and music to awaken our imaginations and rekindle our youthful playfulness.
When Sarah (Tonia Flynn) attempts to clear out her clustered attic, “she finds and awakens her forgotten rag-doll puppet, Neme”. Controlled by Naomi Shaughnessy, the doll “tries to bring Sarah back to her childhood”, guiding us into a world that we often forget. Since the “puppet interaction is all visual and expressive”, there seems to be a delicate beauty to this piece, reminiscent of ex-QMU group Tortoise In a Nutshell, who Beck explains, have inspired her.
There’s an intriguing aspect of loss which we seem to encourage as we age. From adult responsibility to social conformity, the more we grow into a system, the more we conceal our younger selves. Beck wonders “at what point do we lose that and can we get it back?” It’s an interesting conversation on the nature of social conditioning; that we are taught to let go of our mischievousness and embrace a dull, fairly inert adult life. And with Neme, Beck explains how it is “quite quiet and sweet” helping to reveal the nature of the play, but also its conception. She tells of how “everyone’s had an input” and that “it was mostly done through pictures”, so this sense of unity is a warmth which will no doubt radiate from the text. The charm of this piece also seems to stem from the music, taken from The Chronicles of Narnia film. Beck emphasises how “it’s quite Narnian in that idea of going through the wardrobe”, but exploring forgotten memories and reliving precious moments. It seems to welcome us to recall our own childhood, and as the 4th year students prepare to embrace a post-uni life, it’s a touching acknowledgment of the experiences which have shaped who they are.
Neme will be showing in the Studio Theatre, Queen Margaret University, Musselburgh EH21 6UU on Wednesday 30th March at 6:15pm, Thursday 31st March at 7:45pm and Saturday 2nd April at 3:45pm.