Reviews

Do We Look Like Refugees?

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11 August 2010

The fighting in South Ossetia in 2008 between Russian
soldiers and Georgian insurgents – an ill-advised eruption on both sides – left
another terrible mark on the already strained political
relationship.

This verbatim documentary devised by Alecky Blythe with
five actors from that notable Georgian company, the Rustaveli Theatre (who
visited the international festival over thirty years ago) annotates the survival
of refugees from their northern homelands.

With sur-titles, photo projections,
and impassioned music, we have telling snapshots of life in the refugee camps as
normal activity is resumed in the hairdresser’s, in bread shop, at kitchen
tables.

Blythe employs her usual method of playing the recorded
soundtrack through the earphones of the actors who reproduce that text exactly,
with every intonation.

I’ve never understood the point of this, but they seem
not to be taking much notice of the ear-feed anyway. What does come across is
the fierce Georgian spirit of optimism: nature renews itself despite
everything.