Friday, April 8, 2011

Why make a play about Alzheimers disease?


So much has been written on the subject of Alzheimers. So many people have experienced- directly or indirectly - its effects. It was, and is, important to us that our play become not just a rehashing of existing theories, or a family drama about a fictional sufferer, but a poetic exploration of how what we think of as reality can be distorted.

We have set out to try to tell a story in an unsentimental way, in a way that doesn't impose our own standards on the protagonist, but allows us to see the world through his altered reality. We are working with a neuroscientist to help us gain an understanding of aspects of the disease that is unemotional, detached.

In this way we liken it to our own starting point: science fiction. Where the rules of what can and can't happen are bent; where you can see an older version of yourself in the mirror; where time can move backwards as well as forwards; or where everyday objects can take on strange and sinister significance.

By doing all this, we hope to present something that provides a poetic, nuanced, and objective view of some of the aspects of dementia.

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