adapted by Christine Mary Dunford from the novel by Lisa Genova
seen at the Liverpool Playhouse on 9th November 2018
David Grindley directs Sharon Small as Alice, Eva Pope as 'Herself' and Martin Marquez as her husband John with Mark Armstrong as their son Thomas, Ruth Ollman as their daughter Lydia, Anna Andresen as Dr Tamara and Micah Balfour as Dr Davis in a production from Leeds Playhouse currently touring.
Alice suffers from early-onset Alzheimer's disease, her dementia taking the classic form of struggling for words and repeating questions, then escalating to more severe forms of forgetfulness. Initially, as is so typical, the symptoms are brushed aside, but eventually they are too marked to be ignored, and a diagnosis ensues. Alice and John are both academics, she working in the field of linguistics, and he in scientific research, and so they are well-informed and perfectly capable of adopting whatever coping strategies are recommended; John is even sufficiently aware to propose certain forms of treatment not yet widely available (though the novel was published in 2007, this stage adaptation begins in mid-2015 and finishes 'today', as the dateline preceding each major scene informs us).
