publication - Jumblies Theatre

Water MemoriesDay Milman, Jumblies’ videographer, documented seniors handmovement of water memories for ‘Bridge of One Hair.’ I toldthe participants that in the show, the music included a movementabout water which cleanses the debris after war. We exploredwater through words and hands.We closed our eyes, remembering when we were babies safein our mother’s tummies. From there we were born into theocean, looking up to see sunlight, swimming to the surfaceand hearing the laughter of children (which I used as it waspresent in the room; one of the seniors had come down towalk on the treadmill and brought with him two young boyswho played in the background). We look around and seeother people playing on the beach, as we swim happily inthe waves and memoires of water. I shared with them a watermemory from a past participant in the Mabelle seniors group,who recalled when she was a girl in Jamaica, being in a smallboat with a glass bottom and, as they got further out to sea,she saw colourful fish swimming about; it was one of her mostcherished memories of back home. I shared my own watermemory, which was how my partner and I met at a friend’sbirthday party and the birthday woman was going to washthe dishes that had piled high in the sink; we both said at thesame time that she couldn’t wash dishes on her birthday; and sowe washed her dishes together, mostly in silences, soap suds,smiles, a dish towel with the map of Scotland and the children’slaughter in the background.