The Forgotten Kingdom
26 videos • 957 views • by Guy Mendilow Ensemble (GME) The Forgotten Kingdom immerses audiences in a family’s memories of an unraveling, multiethnic Mediterranean world, brought to life through theatrically projected sand animation, narration blending memoir and poetry, and a riveting musical score. A young woman sifts through a memory book her mother made for her, filled with drawings and stories, songs and words, so that, when she was grown, she would remember how it felt to live in her family home by the sea. Between the lines, she sees how her mother tried to show the reasons for the choices her parents had to make as the Ottoman Empire splintered into ethnic nation states. And, sketched into the background, she glimpses hints of the tumultuous changes through which her parents lived, not knowing what was coming around the bend. Breathtaking sand images are created, morphed and obliterated to form dreamlike, intensely emotional chronicles. The cinematographic score reframes Ottoman Jewish women’s song, drawing on the bittersweet rawness of Tango; the rhythmic fire of classical Arabic percussion; and gorgeous vocal harmonies with Western classical music’s harmonic roots. Sand and music intertwine with “masterfully narrated” (Welland Port Colburn Concert Association) tales and an evocative scenic and lighting design. In a multimedia adventure that “explodes with artistry, refinement, and excitement,” (Hebrew Union College, OH) The Forgotten Kingdom moves audiences with questions about struggles we still face today. THE STORY Years after the wars, a young woman tries to understand more about herself by sifting through memories captured in a book of drawings and words her mother made for her so that, when she would be grown, she would remember how it felt to live there, in their village by the sea, and so that she would understand the reasons for choices her parents made. The memory book’s pages evoke an entire world all but lost, and turning the pages is like rewinding time. In the book she glimpses her family and her neighbours. She remembers the stories they told and moments they shared. The pages evoke an entire way of life that — to a child — once seemed eternal. But even the mundane can feel poignant looking back after the changes of wars and migrations. Those people, frozen in the snapshots, had little idea what was coming around the bend, or how the dots would continue to connect.