So much of understanding yourself is linked to understanding your past, and with it your family’s past. This is at the core of Beth Paterson’s NIUSIA, a show that explores her relationship with her Holocaust-surviving grandmother (Niusia), interweaving generational trauma, struggles with navigating religious identity, and matrilineal relationships with great success.
Audiences are taken on a journey from Beth’s teenage rage towards Niusia (she recalls how she was a “massive bitch” during the show), to later understanding her mother’s love for a woman who defined so much of their lives. Combined with much laughter, the show reflects on identifying as Jew(ish) and finding a place to balance this complicated identity with the trauma that her grandparents experienced during the Holocaust. The gazpacho/gestapo joke was a definite highlight of the show.
Throughout the show, boxes of books were a staple prop, which Beth upended, threw across the stage, and read from as appropriate. As someone also unpacking and trying to understand where they come from and their family’s past, this deeply resonated with me as a simple yet effective representation of the learning and self-teaching linked to family trauma.
Despite the show centring around a granddaughter/grandmother relationship, I found the reflections around Beth’s relationship with her mum deeply poignant as she unpacked the plethora of inherited traits down her matrilineal line. Manifested through a jazz motif, the complications in making yourself, your mother, and your grandmother happy was palpable throughout the performance. Indeed, music underscored much of the show, haunting us as the Beth reflected on Niusia’s time in the camps, or creating the scene of Niusia’s much-loved parties.
As a fellow audience member commented as we left, “this was a bad day to wear mascara”. The way in which NIUSIA wove together rage, the struggle to find a place to belong, and familial love was deeply moving. Even for someone without direct familial links to the Holocaust, this show was deeply moving and emotional, reflecting to me the importance of sharing stories, not only throughout families but within communities. NIUSIA reminded me how art is an incredibly effective social tool, ensuring we do not forget or lose touch with the past, and for that I am very grateful.
NIUSIA is running until 25 August (excluding 18th) at the Former Womens Locker Room at Summer Hall.
Buy tickets here.
Image courtesy of Jack Kirby, provided to The Student as press material