Still Alice - A Kinder View Of Alzheimer’s

“Get back before the train hits you!” My brother and I momentarily jumped out of our skins, paused then laughed. There was only one problem with dad’s warning, the three of us were seated in an Alzheimer’s ward at St James’ Hospital in Leeds and he was one of their newest recruits.

It had all started with a sugar bowl in the fridge, strange at first, then frustrating as the disease’s increasing complexities led to further confusion, repeated questions and the associated family frustrations of having to clarify small details for the umpteenth time.

Still Alice, one of the West Yorkshire Playhouse’s latest offerings, articulates the poignancy of this unforgiving disease which, like a thief in the night, robs someone of their personality then returns again and again until they’ve collected all their victim’s faculties.

But, Still Alice, for all its sadness, exited the stage leaving behind a great sense of hope, something director David Grindley had wanted to achieve at the outset. “As the play progresses,” he said, “we know that there can be no miraculous turnaround in Alice’s condition, but the play works hard not to end in a spirit of despair.”

And that is something that Grindley achieves wonderfully, with the help of his main protagonist Alice, better known to many as TV actress, Sharon Small.

Alice is a brilliant Harvard Professor at the top of her game only she begins to forget small things, eventually realising that at barely 50 she is suffering from young-onset dementia. Within three years the person that everyone knows has gone.

But the ‘hope’ is that Alice retains her emotional memory knowing she is comfortable in a certain place, the family’s holiday home, next to this handsome stranger who, in fact, is husband John (Dominic Mafham).

I loved how Grindley begins the play with a busy, domesticated stage; the entire contents of a house. Clearly it represents Alice’s full life, however, as that life dwindles so too does the stage until there is nothing left but Alice, husband John and two deck chairs. Calm. Peace for everyone.

Christine Mary Dunford’s play is adapted from the best-selling novel by Lisa Genova, and cleverly features Alice’s inner voice, played by Ruth Gemmell, which continually articulates the lead’s inner thoughts, sense of panic and gradual demise.
 
And Dunford doesn’t forget the other victims, those family members who must deal with mum’s changed state of mind, and the resulting crisis which calls on each of them to make compromise as they struggle to deal with difficult questions like dad’s career first or mum’s continuing care?

Alais Lawson as Alice’s daughter, Lydia, struggles with mum at the outset – two strong personalities set against one another – but as mum changes, the relationship mellows beautifully as Lydia becomes the carer.

Dominic Mafham is the beleaguered hubby whilst Sharon Small transitions her part from a confident academic into a demure, frightened lady who eventually finds a new type of security in life.

Sad and beautiful, Still Alice is a play we will all recognise if not immediately, certainly in the future.

Still Alice
West Yorkshire Playhouse
Until March 3rd