If scientists could extract memories and replay them through virtual reality headsets for others to experience, whose memories would be worth preserving and who benefits?
That’s the premise of Noga Flaishon’s play Memoriam at the Southwark Playhouse.
Rachel (Rachel Barry) works at the company that preserves memories and then puts an edited version up for rent for people to experience.
It’s an expensive process, and the company needs its next big hit, which is when Rachel’s boss Chris (Ben Wiggins) finds out that her grandma Rivka (Beverley Klein) is now the last living holocaust survivor.
Rachel’s desire to preserve important memories is mixed with a desire to do well at work, but her brother David (Ashley Margolis) is dead set against it.
While such an idea of commercialisation might seem like sci-fi (currently), it isn’t that different to how social media companies make money out of users posting ‘records ‘ of ‘memories’ of what they have been up to.
But Memoriam is about more than the moral debate; it’s about a family and passing on the stories that have shaped it.
The arguments about whether Rivka should or shouldn’t allow her memories to be extracted ignite rivalry between the siblings.
The family scenes and moral debates about commercialising the memories are where the play really flies.
Beverley Klein is particularly joyful to watch as the warm but firm Rivka.
There are some witty lines peppered throughout the play, balancing the tension with humour.
But while there is a naturalness to the family and their interactions – particularly the siblings’ ability to press each other’s buttons – Rachel’s boss Chris feels more problematic.
The character veers towards a stereotypical corporate villain; it is almost cartoonish, where a gentler manipulator would have likely had more of a punch.
A separate storyline about a mother selling a memory of childbirth is also clunky.
It seems to be a device to explain the process of the extraction and sanitising of memories rather than adding anything material to the story.
Final thoughts
Memoriam presents an interesting debate about the role of memories in history and who has the right to them. It doesn’t all quite work, but I’m giving it 3 and a half stars.
Memoriam, Southwark Playhouse
Written by Noga Flaishon
Directed by Daniel Goldman
Cast includes: Rachel Barry and Beverley Klein
Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes with no interval.
Booking until 21 November, 2026
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