Showing @ Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, until 26 Feb @ 13:00
If you thought doing a whole play in an hour was ambitious, writer Lewis Heatherington has surpassed the challenge. This week, you’ll be treated to two plays with your pie and pint. Heatherington has adapted two Argentinian pieces that respond to the military regimes of the 60s and 70s when many children ‘disappeared’ from their families. The revelation of these events inspired Argentina’s Theatre for Identity; both these plays revolve round female characters in search of family, identity and peace in the midst of political turmoil.
The Archivist depicts the relationship between the individual and bureaucracy; Felix (Ian Dunn) represents the system that’s preventing Ana (Malini Chetty) from finding her family. The dispute is intense and thought-provoking, but the play could have stretched longer than its allocated thirty minutes and as a result, the climax seemed almost forced. The pieces are seamlessly sewn together thematically and transition between performances is smooth. Instructions for a Butterfly Collector, a monologue performed by Lucianne McEvoy, is fluid and engrossing. Heatherington’s writing is colourful and descriptive and with minimal set, the production relies on imagery created through speech. These two short plays complement each other well; possibly together giving more insight into the politics that stole from a whole generation than either could have achieved alone.