Combining live music, mime, puppetry and striking visuals, this energetic physical performance reflects on those who endure and continue to live under authoritarianism in Latin America.
Marking 50 years since Pinochet’s Chilean coup, Rewind uncovers a timeless and universal struggle for social justice past and present. Made in collaboration with hispanic studies professor Alison Ribeiro de Menezes, the thought provoking work draws on anthropology and investigations into human rights violations.
In Rewind, we follow a criminal investigation (based on a real story) around missing woman ‘Alicia’ who is symbolic of many thousands of women in Latin America. The energetic, moving and sensitively presented production commemorates the work of forensic anthropologists in Latin America who were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020.
Performed in English and Spanish, the production is presented as we learn of the effects of conflict across the world from Ukraine to Sudan.
Rewind is inspired by the parallel testimonies of refugees whose lives were affected by dictatorship during the 1970s in Latin America and young adult migrants whose lives have been affected by human rights abuses in Latin America in 2019-2022.
During Pinochet’s 17-year authoritarian regime, up to 200,000 Chileans fled into exile and even more escaped the country to start new lives across the world. Around 3,400 people were forcibly disappeared as a result of the coup with over 1000 individuals still missing.
Half a century on, the country is still reeling from the effects of the regime. Political and socio-economic structures established in the 1970s endure and an attempt to modernise Chile’s constitution were overwhelmingly dismissed last year.
Ramon Ayres, Director of REWIND said: “REWIND wants to recognise the loss of loved ones in contexts of violence in Latin America with the aim of recognising the suffering of family members and their communities, and to recover and give expression to the identities of the victims. We also want to bring attention to the importance of the memory of this violence so that it does not happen again.
“This anniversary represents an opportunity to invite the international community to think about the value of human rights, how a human treats another human. As well as to create a concrete gesture of the international community in solidarity with those whose lives have been affected by human rights violations and injustice.”
Ephemeral Ensemble are winners of Summerhall’s inaugural REWIND Award which supports performance which deals with stories of decolonisation.
