Mnemonic
The play begins with a lecture by the director, who encourages the audience to try to recall past memories. It then tells two parallel stories: in one, a man named Virgil tries to find his girlfriend; the other relates the discovery of Ötzi the Iceman, a 5,000-year-old mummified corpse.
Play title: Mnemonic
Author (s): Theatre de Complicite; Salzburger Festspiele
Publisher: Methuen Publishing Limited
Primary Discipline: Archaeology
Scientist (s):
Konrad Spindler, this is the main professor conducting research into the recently discovered ice-man.
Simonides of Ceos: creator of mnemonics
Character Breakdown: 4men, 1 woman
Simon/Virgil, Alice, Spindler, Simonides, BBC Man
Setting: Various
Time Period: 1991
Synopsis of Play: The play begins with a lecture by the director, who encourages the audience to try to recall past memories. It then tells two parallel stories: in one, a man named Virgil tries to find his girlfriend, Alice, who has run away to Europe to hunt for her long-lost father; the other relates the discovery of Ötzi the Iceman, a 5,000-year-old mummified corpse. Through recurring images and situations the play draws parallels between these stories, focusing on the theme of the role of the imagination in recapturing the past.
First Performance Date: July, 1999
First Producer: Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield
Performance History: Royal National Theatre, London (2001 revival)
Bosnian National Theatre, Sarajevo (2002 revival)
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/theater/reviews/chi-review-mnemonic-red-tape-theatre-column.html
http://www.britishtheatreguide.info/reviews/mnemonic-rev
https://dcmetrotheaterarts.com/2017/03/21/review-mnemonic-theater-alliance/
https://variety.com/1999/film/reviews/mnemonic-1200459637/
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2003/jan/08/theatre.artsfeatures2
http://www.curtainup.com/mnemonic.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2001/03/29/theater/theater-review-into-the-loop-of-a-daisy-chain-of-memories.html
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/the-information-on-mnemonic-1130841.html
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/drama/3588415/Theyre-the-key-to-what-is-possible.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrhnzWQ8Q1M
Entered by: Denise Gillman and Meaghan Yesford
Photo/Visual Research with citations:
1999, Complicite, Photo: Sebastian Hoope 1999, Complicite
1999, Complicite, Photo: Sarah Ainslie 1999, Complicite, Photo: Sebastian Hoope
2001, Photo: Alastair Muir 2017, Season 14
2017, Season 14 2017, Season 14
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Molly Sweeney