Memento Mori
In the field by edge of the forest sit two chairs, one taken by Louella, alone save for the cascade of her troubled thoughts haunted by past and uncertain future, the other unoccupied yet filled with the memories of moments, words spoken by friends, family, acquaintances and confidantes, which dominate her mind, in the midst of them flashes of the cruel, laughing figure she never wanted to meet.
Louella confused, overwhelmed, uncertain and afraid, there is little comfort to be found in the warm sunshine; well-meaning phrases are empty, and those who she thought might understand are unhelpful, clumsy, while others are actively insensitive, thoughtlessly mocking her diagnosis and what she is going to go through, a battle she cannot avoid.
Taking its name from the Latin for the awareness of the inevitability of death, Memento Mori is co-directed by Anna Barker and Bark’s Ryan Irving from a script written by Barker who also takes the central role as Louella, confronted by a parade of imagined and remembered faces offering empty condolences on her chances, slipping between them to assert its presence the mocking cancer she cannot forget about or ignore.
The voices diverse yet somehow all managing to say variations of the same thing, ill-informed advice, hollow platitudes, observations astonishing in their selfish blindness, the only voice not heard is the most important, that of Louella, silently gathering herself for the fight, marshalling her strength before kicking and screaming and reclaiming the space she has carved out for herself.
Memento Mori will be streaming on the Arrow platform from Friday 8th November
