EDINBURGH 2023: REWIND Q&A

BWW caught up with Ramon from Ephemeral Ensemble to chat about bringing Rewind to the 2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Tell us a bit about Rewind.

Inspired by testimonies of Latin American refugees and migrants, REWIND remembers those who endured, and those who continue to live under authoritarianism. 

Through energetic physical theatre, compelling live music and vibrant visuals, Ephemeral Ensemble invites the audience to witness the investigation of a crime that slowly reveals Alicia's identity: a woman who dared to resist.

REWIND was the winner of Summerhall's inaugural Rewind Award. The award was aptly named after our show!

Why is it such an important story to tell?

REWIND was created with the urge to express an artistic response to a timeless and universal struggle for justice. The performance shines a light in the dark, revealing an intimate experience of victims in search for this justice. 

We were inspired by parallel testimonies of refugees whose lives were affected by dictatorship during the 70s in Latin America and young adult migrants whose lives have been affected by human rights violation in Latin America in 2019-2022.

In 2021, the United Nations reported that Latin America is the most dangerous place for human rights defenders to express their opinion. 

"I grew up in Brazil, and Brazilian democracy and I are almost the same age. Although I didn't grow up under a dictatorship regime, I have lived the echo of one. It is crazy to see history, repeating itself. A series of peaceful protest in Latin America in 2019-2022 resulted on military aggression, such as shooting rubber bullet in the eyes of protesters, sexual assault, enforced disappearance and death", says Ramon Ayres, director of REWIND.

Although the performance is based on memories of Latin Americans, the piece reflects the time and the situation that we find ourselves as a global society. REWIND looks at the trauma and the injuries of many nations.

Overall, we want to bring attention to the importance of the memory of human rights violation so that it does not happen again. REWIND brings the past and the future into dialogue, and places empathy at the fore. 

How integral is the presentation of the piece to the storytelling?

It is totally integral. We don't start a creative process with a preconceived story. We create the story at the same time as we play with how we want to tell the story. Everything comes together simultaneously, as one thing. We don't lean on text to communicate to an audience, every element on the stage is carefully crafted to tell a story.

The aesthetic of the performance is deeply inspired by the fact based stories that we gathered for our starting point. The ensemble piece together a Forensic Anthropology investigation. Forensic anthropology is the first science in history to investigate human rights violation. It was created and evolved in Latin America with the aim to find and give identity back to those, who had disappeared during dictatorship period. Now their work is spread around the world, digging mass graves out, analysing injuries on bones, using science among other skills to carry on with their reparation for human rights abuses.

These scientific and investigative aspects of the performance come through the analogue way that we play with the lighting, music and projection. 

We don't use the traditional theatre lights. The performers operate practical lights (festoons, lamps, torches...) that is manually moved to interact with the actions on the stage. 

We also use an Overhead Projector to create a live, handcrafted, timeless and non pre-recorded projection. The music is also played all live, with no pre-recorded tracks. 

Who would you like to come and see it?

We really hope to get a very diverse audience and attract people looking for meaningful and playful experience; a distinct theatrical style that can be etched in their mind or a long time.

What would you like audiences to take away from it?

Joy and tears, empathy, solidarity, reparation to pain and the importance of human rights. 

Tickets are available at 

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