Two short plays from the extraordinary Argentine theatre movement known as the Theatre for Identity. Its origins lie in the courageous women of the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo who took to the streets to demand to know what had happened to those who were ‘disappeared’ by the military regime of the sixties and seventies. The children of the victims of the ‘dirty war’ were farmed out to military families; in many cases they only discovered their real identities many years later. These plays were the expression of the impact of that discovery on a generation of the Children (los Hijos) of the disappeared. Read more …
Instructions for a Butterfly Collector
A young girl in a dusty basement conjures up life from the smallest fragments of hope. She looks at the Butterflies she has put under glass, she handles them carefully and delicately, willing them to come back to life and take flight. She has spent her life longing for her brother, but when he arrived he was not what she imagined at all. She recalls their meetings and re-imagines her own life so vividly the truth becomes to fleeting and delicate for her to take in her hand.
The Archivist
The Man tells her she must give him information - about her home, her garden, her bedroom - if he is to help her find her family.
The Man tells her she must give her blood - pints of blood to be analysed in the laboratory- if he is to help her find her family. The Man says she should go, there is no one to analyse the blood, there are no records, there is nothing, she should go, and forget she had ever had a family or she will be stuck with him forever.
Perfect examples of theatre’s power to make the personal political, and vice versa.
Both pieces have power and poignancy.
Mothers on a mission after 'Dirty War'
A Play, a Pie and a Pint & NTS present a double header
A Play, a Pie and a Pint, Glasgow from Monday February 14, 2011, until Saturday February 19, 2011. More info: http://playpiepint.com
Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh from Tuesday February 22, 2011, until Saturday February 26, 2011. More info: www.traverse.co.uk