What are the qualities of water? It is unending, it is sticky, it fragments you. Come Back Home explores the many ways in which grief changes you and stays with you, but perhaps ultimately brings you closer to life’s truth.
Fadi Murad begins by drawing our attention to the chalk waves drawn on the blackboard of the Anatomy Theatre. His lighter flicks on, flicks off. It illuminates a child-like drawing of a smiling face and briefly reveals Murad’s trousers, an incriminating wet stain spreading downwards.
This piece follows Murad’s journey in grieving the loss of his mother as a child following a car accident on a rain-drenched night. It is an introspection, a self-investigation after the death of a loved one.
“Da, da, da, da, da,” echoes around the shadowed walls of the space. Repetition within the spoken word pieces heightens the emotion and frantic tempo of the performance.
The two themes most present are self-destruction and self-reconciliation. In order to come to terms with his mother’s death Fadi must kill another Fadi, is forced to kill Faulty, his puppet alter-ego, and plunges himself in a bowl of holy water to cleanse himself.
The spoken word and mixed-media elements of the show are delivered with poise and poignancy, but at times feel as though they lack emotional depth. There is a strange dissonance between Murad’s exploration of such a deep and painful topic and the sense that he is unable to fully bare his emotions to the audience, his body language and facial expressions rarely offering up anything other than emotional neutrality.
Come Back Home is an ode to Murad’s childhood, fractured by the loss of a parent. Projected on the wall behind him is the awkward but touching performance of ‘Mad World’ by his nine year-old self at his mother’s funeral. Fadia (Murad’s mother) is never given a face, instead occupying space within the performance as the woman “with the widest smile [Fadi] had ever seen.”
This stream of consciousness brought to life through spoken word and audio-visual elements helps us understand the place of death in our lives and those we must leave behind in order to move forwards.
Come Back Home is running until 31 August in Anatomy Lecture Theatre at Summerhall. Buy tickets here.
Image credits to Wendy Niblock.
