Elegy

by Nick Payne

seen at the Donmar Warehouse on 30 April 2016

Nick Payne seems to delight in concentrated short plays - like his earlier Constellations (reviewed in June 2015) his new Elegy is only 70 minutes long. Directed by Josie Rourke and designed by Tom Scutt, it features Zoe Wanamaker as  Lorna, Barbara Flynn as Carrie and Nina Sosanya as Miriam.

In Elegy Lorna has had surgery for an undefined mental illness, which circumstances suggest is a form of dementia. The surgery involves replacing damaged neurons with synthetic ones, but the consequence is total loss of the memories which the original neurons carried. In Lorna's case this stretches back over twenty years of her life, which in turn means eliminating all her memories of having been married to Carrie.

The Father

by Florian Zeller translated by Christopher Hampton

seen at Wyndhams Theatre on 7 October 2015

The play is directed by James Macdonald and is designed by Miriam Buether. It stars Kenneth Cranham as Andre, an 80-year-old retired engineer, and Claire Skinner as Anne, his daughter. Kirsty Oswald plays Laura, a care worker, and Nicholas Gleaves plays Pierre, Anne's partner.

The subject is the onset of dementia, and Zeller has achieved the remarkable feat of presenting the situation through the confusion of Andre's mind. It appears that he is in his own flat being visited by his daughter after an altercation with a carer. However, our understanding is soon destabilised by the appearance of two other characters who contradict Anne's statements, and then by Anne's own assertion that Andre has in fact moved to her flat. The techniques of theatrical trickery have been used to disconcerting effect in illuminating the crippling uncertainties of dementia as it may be experienced by a sufferer.