In Theatre Re’s The Nature of Forgetting, movement and music fill the space where words are largely absent. Rather than hearing the characters explain their lives, we recognise moments from those lives through the way they move.
Founded in 2011, British theatre company Theatre Re brings together movement, visual images and original live music to explore human life and relationships. Alongside The Nature of Forgetting, which explores memory and forgetting, its work includes Birth, about three generations of women and the experience of pregnancy loss, and Bluebelle, which finds love and hope amid loss and loneliness. The company’s work runs through movement and music, expressing experiences that are difficult to put into words. The performance at Hackney Empire on October 8 opened the production’s 10th anniversary tour and formed part of the theatre’s 125th anniversary celebrations.
Physical theatre places the actor’s body and movement at the centre of storytelling. Gestures, facial expressions, posture and the distance between performers reveal feelings and relationships, while the speed and repetition of movement give scenes their meaning. It does not always leave out dialogue, but like The Nature of Forgetting, movement and music fill the space where words are largely absent. Rather than hearing the characters explain their lives, we recognise moments from those lives through the way they move.
On entering the theatre, the first thing that catches the eye is the many clothes hanging closely together on stage. Tom, who is living with early-onset dementia, is preparing for his 55th birthday when the clothes draw him into memories of his past. The feel of the fabric brings back his younger self and the people around him. School uniforms bring his school days to life, and changing clothes carries his life into its next scene. Worn so close to the body, these clothes seem to hold traces of the years he has lived, offering a way back to the self he is beginning to forget.
These memories hold playful school days, the excitement of first telling someone how he feels, and the awkwardness of being young and unsure what to do with those feelings. They follow a familiar path through life: being born, going to school, making friends and falling in love. Even as we follow Tom’s personal memories, we find moments that resemble our own. As scenes that first appear vivid and clear become broken and confused, we feel again how precious those ordinary moments were.
The four actors move through these many years without hesitation. Scenes change rapidly as they handle clothes and props and move straight into the next action. Such speed is only possible when each performer knows exactly where the others will be and what they will do. It is hard not to wonder how much rehearsal lies behind their timing. Even amid bold, full-body movements, their facial expressions remain subtle. Hesitation and joy in love, and the confusion of being unable to hold on to a memory, pass across their faces. From the shock of a car accident to the joy of riding a bicycle, changes in their bodies’ tension and balance convey the feelings in each scene.
The bicycle scene, also featured on the poster, brings all this together. The bicycle stays in one place, but its wheels turn rapidly. Friends meet around it, someone joins the rider, and others run to catch up. Together, the stationary bicycle and the actors running around it create a sense of speed, wind and youthful energy. The desire to move forward and to stay close to someone you love finds expression in bodies pedalling and running. Tom may be standing still in the present, but in his memories, he is still racing ahead.
Alex Judd’s music runs throughout the performance, adding rhythm and emotional depth to the movement. The close timing between actors and musicians gives the rapid scene changes a steady flow, while excitement and anxiety reach the audience without words. Judd has explained that the music was developed alongside the movement from the early stages, using everyday sounds such as wedding bells, car horns and playground noise to connect memories. The music both creates the mood of each scene and links moments from Tom’s past. As the actors’ bodies bring those moments to life, the live music carries their feelings to the audience.
The production was developed with neuroscientist Professor Kate Jeffery, drawing on conversations with people living with dementia and those who care for them. Research into memory becomes movement, music and images on stage. A striking moment comes later in the performance, when clothes are thrown into the air. The traces of a life that once hung on rails scatter all at once. It feels as though countless moments from one person’s life are spilling out before us. The clothes remain, but the memories attached to them become harder to hold on to. In this way, the performance gives forgetting a visible form. We watch what Tom has lost while also sharing the joy of the moments he once lived.
The Nature of Forgetting continues its UK and international tour, with UK dates running until March 4, 2027.
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