During one of our final rehearsals at the grandstand, we decided to focus on one aspect of our performance and removed the other parts to make our piece less complex. In doing this we have decided to create a piece on mortuaries. The performance will involve our group lying  amongst shoes and talking about mortuaries using texts we have found. I shall be speaking the following text:

“Emergencies that cause the deaths of large numbers of people can result from major accidents, natural disasters or acts of hostility. While what has happened cannot be undone, other people may be protected from similar events by careful investigation of the causes, the collection of evidence and the prosecution of any criminal acts. Within the wider investigation, responding to the deaths will focus on the respectful treatment and accurate identification of the physical remains, and where possible their return to the next of kin. A large number of deaths or complexity of circumstances, such as fragmentation of bodies, may require the deployment of an emergency mortuary. This can enable large volumes of specialist forensic tasks to be conducted, but will place new demands on the emergency services and local authority, including the need to consider body storage, specialist equipment, staffing, mortuary deployment and on-site maintenance, and mortuary integration with the local physical infrastructure and management arrangements. This will require a coordinated multi-agency approach. The decisions taken and the ways in which information is communicated may have a lifelong impact on the friends and families of those who have died. Plans should therefore be considered carefully from their perspective” (Elliot, 2011, p.430). 

The text explains emergency mortuaries and how they are planned. This is a relevant text for the grandstand as that is exactly what might have happened at the site. The mortuary plan was created for the grandstand and it is still not certain whether it was used. Our piece explores the site and what it could have been.

Work Cited

Elliot, A. 2011, ‘Abstract’, ‘Mortuary provision in emergencies causing mass fatalities’, Journal of Business Continuity and Emergency Planning, 5, 1, Business source Complete, EBSCOhost, p.430-439, [accessed] 17 April 2014.