Lamesha Ruddock
Imprints by The Palimpsest Project is a production that lingers in the mind long after the final frame. Inventive and deeply intentional, bridging live performance and live feed, this piece is rooted in puppetry to create an intimate excavation of memory.
Imprints follows Charlie as she returns to their hometown and heads to Melanie’s party, unprepared for the flood of memories that begin to resurface. Charlie’s inner world unfolds before us as she attempts to piece together what really happened. What happens at Christian camp stays at Christian camp, if everyone else had it their way.
In an era of Everybody’s Invited, #MeToo, and conversations where shame should finally swap sides, Imprints boldly and sincerely excavates childhood trauma and the lengths we go to suppress memory. The show also wrestles with the repression of sexuality and the ways this implosion reverberates onto oneself and others. Through Beckett Gray’s performance, we witness an unravelling that feels delicate and devastating, an honest reflection of how memory resists neat narration.
The live feed element is a triumph, as memories unfold in real time through sketches, doodles, and photos appearing under the camera, merging seamlessly with the tactile world of wire puppetry. We see memories from the journal filling in the gaps with new opinions and recollections forming. Max’s journal page, notably bare, becomes a haunting symbol of absence.
Leela Gaunt’s Melanie is airy, snooty, and devoid of sincerity, a perfect counterpoint to Beckett Gray’s Charlie, who radiates vulnerability and earnest confusion. Sam Critchlow’s Rob is attentive and eager, constantly toeing the line between genuine care and performative charm. Elmira Oberholzer brings nuance to her dual roles: as Christina, she wouldn’t pass the Bechdel test, yet as Max, she’s audacious, bold, and unafraid to climb her own canopies.
Richard Durning’s sound design beautifully curates the party soundscape and the mystery that hums beneath it. Car trips come alive through a rolling backdrop of rolling hills and blue side lighting, complete with window wipers and a hung cross, subtle details that pull us into Charlie’s world. The gentle legato strum of the guitar acts as a portal to camp, the flicker of firelight and the warmth of a lightbox evoke the nostalgic memories of camp.
When Mr. Brightside kicks in, you know the party is nearing the end and Charlie kicks into urgency to figure her memory out. Strips of cardboard crunch like leaves underfoot as shadow puppetry turns the tablecloth into a canvas for memory, a camping tent of secrets. Charlie’s memories of Max, once scribbled and unclear, twist into focus as their wiry figure dons a navy Carhartt hat, embodying the aloof confidence of a Berliner. The video imagery is gorgeous, with the wire trees drifting in and out of focus, mirroring the fragile process of remembering.
Imprints is a study in how we reconstruct ourselves through fragments and how truth can shimmer through distortion. A beautiful, intricate, and releasing performance.
Performances of Imprints have now concluded at Voila! Theatre Festival 2025.
Jake Mace
Jasmine Silk
