What’s on at Edinburgh Fringe: Glasgow & Bristol based theatre makers bring powerful show to festival for 2025
A powerful piece of theatre will have its Edinburgh Fringe debut this year – be ready for a production critics have called “Tremendous”, “Extremely moving” and “Exceptional”.
When The Scotsman reviewed Last Rites, the critic called it “A mighty theatrical lyricism” and audiences can expect a feast for all the senses when the performance comes to the Pleasance Courtyard, as part of Edinburgh Fringe this August.
What’s the story?
The beating heart of the story, and the performance, is Arjun. His father has just died and, as well as coping with that profound loss he has to find a way to honour him through his culture’s traditional funeral rites – and it’s not easy. It’s a journey that takes him back to India, where ancient traditions meet modern reality.
But here’s the twist. Arjun and his father couldn’t communicate - Arjun is Deaf, and his father never learned to sign. Theirs was a complex relationship built on love but without a common language, which brought its own tensions. As Arjun starts to look back at his time with his father, it is through this lens that the story unfolds.
Even in his grief, Arjun’s memories are not all dark. He remembers his father with humour and tenderness, and recalls the exhilaration and wonder of growing up. And though he can’t fix everything in the past, there is hope for the future - in the form of his own son, Krishna.
This boundary-breaking production has been devised to be accessible to Deaf, hard of hearing and hearing people and is told through a mix of movement, music, visual imagery, sign language and projected text. The bass-heavy sounds can be felt pounding in the body, animated captions projected onto the screen help the story to flow, and above all the intricate, dynamic and expressive movements of Arjun lead us through this emotional journey into Arjun’s past.
George Mann & Ramesh Meyyappan, the show’s co-creators, said: “The show is powerful, funny and moving, and ultimately uplifting. Everyone will relate to this show – the story is so universal, so human.”
Scottish connections
Last Rites is the latest show from award-winning company and Fringe favourites Ad Infinitum and is co-created by Ad Infinitum’s Co-Artistic Director George Mann and Glasgow-based theatremaker Ramesh Meyyappan. Ramesh takes the role of Arjun, a man who left his homeland behind for a new life in the UK but who now finds himself called back to his father’s deathbed and expected to fulfil the duties of the eldest son in Hindu culture.
Ramesh, who is himself Deaf, is able to express the complex relationship, the intense emotions and frustration and anger of his situation and his grief, through this performance which uses the movement, lighting, words, images, sounds and signing to add to the narrative.
Ramesh is based in Glasgow, and came to Edinburgh Fringe last year with Love Beyond, a co-production with Raw Material and Vanishing Point, which won the Leading Light Award for Best Scottish Production at the Scottish Theatre Awards On the Fringe. An internationally award-winning artist, Edinburgh audiences will recognise him from his titular role in this summer’s critically acclaimed Lear at the Traverse Theatre.
Ad Infinitum has been coming to the Fringe since 2007 and has a longstanding relationship with Pleasance Theatres. Known for their signature physical style and dynamic storytelling, their last performance at Edinburgh Festival Fringe was 2023’s Beautiful Evil Things, a fast-paced retelling of the Trojan war through the eyes of Medusa. The run was hugely successful, with a 5* review from The Scotsman describing it as "dynamic, illuminating and hugely entertaining".
Last Rites premiered 18 months ago as part of MimeLondon 2024, but this will be its Fringe debut as part of the Here & Now showcase, one of four showcase programmes of work from the four UK nations at the Edinburgh Festivals. Here & Now focuses on forging new relationships between artists making performance in England and international partners.
Book tickets
Last Rites is suitable for ages 14+. The show contains occasional flashing video and lighting, haze, loud music and heavy use of bass and contains themes of grief and death, parental abuse and trauma.