From recollections of a sunny afternoon in a garden in southern Sweden to a  clever re-enactment of that childhood summer idyll, memories were on the move in this gentle, affectionate show. Combining film, dance, text and design like fragments of memories, seemingly unconnected, the show conceived by Liz Nilsson and Kay Scorah was produced through a collaborative palette of experience.

The process of reclaiming and then articulating memories is a journey in itself. To help us, the audience,  locate our own personal time bombs of memories, we embarked on an assignment-filled bus journey to the Rua Red performance space.  However, the more affecting and free flow aide-mémoire was the performance itself  where we could watch and listen as the performers gave visual and physical witness to the memories they evoked, prodding the layers of memories stored in our minds and bodies.

A child skipping, a waft of floor polish, the touch of a new-fangled lawnmower were all embraced in this show which, like the fragments of memories seemingly unconnected, recalled times of joy, longing, conflict, sometimes personal and individual, other times shared and communal.  

Liz Nilsson’s textile designs for both costumes and staging were both arresting and attuned. Her billowing transparent banners a perfect foil  the ebb and flow of memories. A synchronised swimming sequence stole the show, all precision legs, bathing-capped angled heads and Ethel Merman style smiles and poses. The aftershow pancake supper sparked a few memories of indoor picnics of yore.

Star rating: ★★★