As we arrive to be seated we are greeted by Natalie Songer, the writer and performer of ‘Satellites’, and we are invited to take a stone to hold. An intriguing start.
As it begins, we are told: “In the year 2,002,018, the space craft Pioneer 10 arrives at the giant star of Aldebaran”. Still intriguing.
This is a one woman show and Natalie gives us a cleverly executed archival story of her family whose tale is spread across continents and space.
In 1945, Tom and his brother Cor Gehrels were both part of the Dutch resistance during World War II, they were separated and their lives took very different directions. Tom emigrated to the USA and became part of the NASA space programme inventing amazing technology and Cor becomes captured, spends time in a concentration camp and unfortunately dies there.
Over a conversation over a family dinner, the great-niece discovers that her two great-uncles who lived very different lives, although not too much was known. Through her thorough research, she uncovers more and more about the complex lives they led. The research journey took her across Europe and America and created an epic story of loss and hope and how the story of heritage can bound a family together.
Natalie has adapted this transformative story with deep, connecting layers explored through her performance.
It’s a great piece of storytelling. For 80 minutes this woman kept us engaged with this fascinating story. Her passion for this story captured our minds as we were eager to follow the journey she took us on. The use of simple props, each stored in labelled cardboard boxes across the stage were opened as we discovered another layer.
With the use of a projector for additional visual aids, and different layers of sound, Natalie truly delivered this performance with detail and heart. A unique performance which was interesting, engaging, watchable and thought-provoking, allowing us to reflect on our own stories.
Link:
Natalie Songer
This review was published on GrapevineLIVE