Review of Relics

AMUSING: 'Relics' sees the present as the past, set in the future (Graydon Royce, Star Tribune).

It is the year 2314 and we are ushered through exhibits that purport to show what life was like back in 2014. Something called “The Great Wipe” had destroyed all life on Earth and these future historians are proving to this audience that there was once an advanced culture.

So, a skeleton fossil reveals the ear buds still hooked up to an ancient device we know as the iPod. A hooded sweatshirt, it was assumed, was worn with the hood in front, a “trough top” that can be filled with popcorn (now, that’s actually not a bad idea).

Dumpsters in the 21st century are interpreted as personal cisterns as three actors do a riff reminiscent of Beckett’s “Endgame.” And the car brush/scraper so essential this time of year was understood by these researchers as a scrubbing utensil for humans. An actor demonstrates how “ancient peoples” used what we know as cake frosting as hand and body cream.

If “Relics” has any lasting impact, it will be to provoke a smile next time you walk through an exhibit like “The Dead Sea Scrolls” or “Tutankhamun.” Just how do we really know that the ancient Egyptians used cosmetics made of clay?

It's good for ancient historians and archaeologists to be reminded of this sort of thing from time to time.