We say the Falklands, you say Las Malvinas
As grainy news footage towards the end of this remarkable show makes plain – crowds on quaysides waving Union Jacks and brandishing “welcome home” banners – many people in this country achieved “closure” about the Falklands War as soon as the task-force returned home.
But for the Brits who saw action, coming to terms with 1982’s brief but bloody conflict (907 fatalities in all) hasn’t been so simple. On the Argentinian side, higher casualty figures (many of them conscripts) and the wounded pride that comes with defeat have arguably made the process even more complex.
In a stage first that brings together three veterans from each country to pool memories, shape a theatrical response and perform alongside each other, the Argentinian artist Lola Arias has created a powerful act of remembrance.
Minefield is, at one level, usefully informative, including speeches by Margaret Thatcher and General Galtieri. But, conducted in English and Spanish (with surtitles), it proves no arid history lesson. Personal testimonies abound and, using live video and DIY soundeffects, the piece has an experimental edge, going from skittish to serious. Sometimes it’s both at once: Rubén Otero relives his ordeal on a life-raft after the sinking of the Belgrano by joining with his compatriots on the platform housing the instruments of his Beatles tribute band – something cosy and familiar stands in for something remote and fraught with peril. Later, there’s a thundering rendition of Get Back – which sounds like a friendly gesture but also carries a depth-charge of resentment about the dispute over “Las Malvinas”. Not all of it works: the final punkish musical assault, directed at the audience, say. Yet the overall achievement far outweighs any incidental artistic quibbles. Bravo