Leave to Remain @ St John's Church

Away from the razzmatazz of the festival, I slipped into the chapel of St John's to experience Leave to Remain, where former Traverse playwright in residence, Jo Clifford and actor Suzanne Dance enacted a moving performance/ritual/sharing.

It's hard to describe since, as they said themselves, they developed this more Zen-like, spiritual event, not tied to any formal religion, as a way of coming to terms with their own bereavements. Of course, death touches us all, not just the old and there were young people in the audience too. Bereavement is not a subject we are encouraged to talk about in our society, but they created a space, including silence, where the audience could join in, if only in our hearts.

It was a warm, intimate experience and with Harriet Davidson on the cello playing Bloch, Bach and even some jolly traditional Scottish music, we moved from sorrow to joy – death teaching us how to live.