The Book of Life brings light upon the powerful and inspirational firsthand stories of those affected by the Rwandan genocide in 1994 and pushed the light through the shadows of the tragedy, remembering the life and love in this heartwarming show.
Rwandan writer and activist Odile Gakire Katese and the Women Drummers of Rwanda showcase a beautiful story through letters from widows, orphans and perpetrators of the genocide in Rwanda, along side a rendition of Lilly Ernesto’s inspiring book, How Grandmother Spider Got the Sun.
Katese was the narrator of the piece as well as the writer. Her writing was fantastically balanced to highlight both the sorrow and the wonderful life of those affected by genocide. A quote Katese said that really brought light to the vision she had for the show was she wanted to allow the widows to grieve with her, she wanted to show the orphans to think about the life rather than the death and she wanted to let the perpetrators to say what they couldn’t say on trial. This statement highlighted the way Katese wanted to tell this story – positively. With the horror of this great tragedy, the Book of Life used a positive scope for everything and had the audience laughing, crying and smiling throughout and even thinking about their life’s in a grateful and joyful way with the intelligent and marvellous writing.
Katese, as a performer, was fantastic. Her charisma and energy was very well balanced and kept at a high level throughout the show. Being the storyteller/narrator, she had to grab and keep the audience’s attention from the offset and she found this easy it seemed. She was hilariously funny and very endearing to watch.
The Women Drummers of Rwanda were used as ensemble actors and to help transition between scenes and this worked perfectly. Their singing brought such an engaging atmosphere to the show and drew the audience’s attention at well deserved times. They performed two drumming sets which were amazing to watch. The energy they had and love they showed for their music and performance left the people wanting more and was a great touch and a great way to break up and end the show.
One of the highlights of the piece was the lighting and visual effects. The backdrop was a black curtain that for the entire show had a light projected onto it from behind the curtain where the visual effects artist – who was named as Christine by Katese – projected beautifully drawn art onto the curtain which were visually telling the story that Katese was vocalising. The skill this was produced with was very impressive and such a good way to bring another element to the stories and really brought the viewers into the world of those affected.
In conclusion, The Book of Life was a beautifully inspiring piece of art that gave the audience a loving and positive show that is definitely one to remember.
Theatre Scotland 
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