A deeply moving and grounded play developed by the multi-award-winning physical theatre company, Ad Infinitum.
Last Rites is a deeply moving and grounded play developed by the multi-award-winning physical theatre company, Ad Infinitum. The play sensitively raised questions about culture, identity and the education system. British Sign Language was used as a way of honouring the deaf community and bringing context to what was being performed, which not only connected the audience and the performer but also created a level of intimacy with the audience.
The play was a one-man-show which demonstrated the talent and openness that Ramesh Meyyappan was able to convey during the performance. He held the audience for the full hour not dropping concentration or specificity in his work. As a hearing audience member, I was able to immerse myself within the deaf experience and how a deaf person’s life differs hugely from my own. The play was a great balance between exploring the themes of deaf identity and culture. There was a powerful crossover of the father’s willingness to educate his son about his Hindu culture and the father’s inability to listen and respond to his son’s culture of being deaf in a hearing world.
The play incorporated the ritual of hand washing which was really emotional at times as it felt like he was washing away his ability to communicate in order to conform to the Hindu culture of purity and cleanliness. Ramesh performed with such versatility and flexibility with both characterisation and the specificity of his performance. His movements were fluid and his comedic timing was brilliant. I was to go to the post show discussion for Press Night Ramesh Meyyappan and David Ellington talked about the meaning behind the play and how he was able to bring his personal experiences into the role. This opportunity was really interesting to see how the play came to fruition.
Overall, this was an absolute stunning piece of theatre which I am grateful that I got to see. To me, it is important for theatre to explore important stories and this play did exactly that. The play will be touring around the UK in the next coming months and I urge you to watch this comedic and thought-provoking physical theatre piece.