Complicite Mnemonic

by Complicite, Jane Russell

A play and production from one of the world's most innovative theatre companies




Mnemonic is about memory, people's personal histories, shared memories and discordant recollections - exhuming the past in order to examine it in the present. A variety of stories - from the discovery of bog people like Tollund Man to peoples compulsion to retrace the origins of their ancestors - collide and form a piece of theatre which questions our concept of time, our capacity to distort history and our attempts to retell the past.
"An ice-preserved body - from 5,200 years ago - forms the central image of Theatre de Complicite's dazzlingly imaginative meditation on memory and morality. Timely and unforgettable" (Independent)

Genres: Plays, Theatre

96 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1999

Reviews

[Kayden Merritt]

I understand it in the soul and the mind is hastily catching up

[Jonathan]

I think I would appreciate this play a lot more if I saw it in person or saw a recording of it. So much emphasis is placed upon the movement and positions of the actors and the sets change so frequently, it's hard to keep track of what's going on where and when. I'd really like to see how they pull of a mountainside, a taxi, a train, a hospital, a bedroom, and other settings on stage. I think a lot of it is done through lighting, special effects, and miming, but just reading the stage directions, it's hard to imagine it. A few pictures are included, but a diagram of the set would have been helpful.

Several parts of the play are repetitive, though I think that might be intentional. I like the themes and symbolism of the play (origins, connections to the past and present, memory of course) and how Alice's father and Virgil become synonymous with the Iceman at certain points. I wish there were some closure to Alice's story and the relationship between her and Virgil were developed a little more. Many scenes are split up when I didn't think they needed to be. I personally think a lot of scenes need to be streamlined and made a little more cohesive, but perhaps it works better on stage.

This is a very complex and ambitious play, so I have to give points for that.

[Josette Garcia]

Difficult to follow but interesting subject.

[mols ❀]

feel like it'd make sense on stage but i got so lost bruv

[Andie]

I have no doubt that Mnemonic would be stunning in performance -- a bunch of beautiful images are scattered throughout the script, but I didn't feel that the story hit the same emotional intensity as the imagery. The opening monologue, however, was a delightful read.

[Faith]

It's hard to follow at times, it would have been MUCH better to have seen the play before reading the script. It's one of those interesting stories that you get a little confused throughout the play but toward the end a sort of proverbial light goes off, and you understand. I enjoyed it very much.

[Lizzie]

This was one of my favorite productions I ever saw, ever. I haven't reread the script in a long, long time, though.

[Cathal Reynolds]

4.5 stars
So wish I could have seen this on stage. Simon McBurney is a theatre god. So is my bae Tim obviously. Together they could rule the theatre world.