The Father

I had a feeling that this would be unsettling to watch and I wasn’t wrong.  Not because of the staging: the piece was sensitively directed, brilliantly performed and impeccably produced in the proud tradition of The Sinodun Players.  The play is difficult and challenging because it deals directly with dementia – the UK’s leading cause of death, yet a subject which is still rarely discussed outside the immediate circle around a person living with the condition.  Having lost both my parents to dementia I was braced for the emotional impact of being confronted once more by the devastating effects that it can have on people’s lives.

The story is told from the perspective of the titular character, André; it starts routinely enough with a narrative conversation between André and his daughter Anne, but it quickly becomes apparent that all is not quite as it seems.  Stereotypical symptoms of dementia, such as memory lapses and repeated phrases, begin to creep in to André’s speech.  Precious items go missing, identities are confused, conspiracies are suspected.  The audience is drawn into André’s alternative reality: surely Anne was played by a different actor a moment ago?  Who is this character who doesn’t quite seem to fit into the narrative?

It’s as if Andre’s life has been shattered into pieces and he is desperately trying to make sense of it all.  Each scene is a piece of the puzzle.  Some pieces are substantial and consistent.  Other pieces are mere vignettes and difficult to place.  Yet more pieces seem distorted, and don’t quite seem to fit into any pattern no matter how hard you try.  And of course, nothing is in the right order, and many, many pieces are missing altogether.

We, the audience, are similarly left to try to make sense of what we’re seeing.  What is real here, what has been distorted, what’s missing?  That Anne is André’s daughter seems to be beyond dispute, but who is the other daughter, thoughtlessly preferred by André, and what has happened to her?  Is Anne still married or is she planning to move to London with her new partner, Pierre?  Is André living in his own flat, or Anne’s? And if he’s in Anne’s flat, was that to allow her to spend more time caring for him or to get hold of his money?

Little is conclusively resolved; resolution is a characteristic of theatrical productions rather than of people living with dementia.  We remain engaged, but not to learn how it all turns out: reality is receding and clouded by confusion, and at the most basic, brutal level this story can only, ultimately, end one way.  No, we remain engaged with the play because the cast has brought these characters vividly to life, and we have become emotionally invested in André and Anne.

“The Father” was a tough watch, but it was undeniably brilliantly done.  The Sinodun Player’s determination to bring the subject of dementia out into the light was admirable, and the director’s clarity of vision ensured that this was a powerful, thought-provoking production laced with insight and, despite the subject matter, occasional moments of humour.  The play was followed by a Question and Answer session for which the leading actors and the director were joined on stage by a dementia specialist from a local group of care homes, to answer any questions; several theatre-goers bravely shared their experiences of caring for someone living with dementia.  It’s just a pity that there weren’t more people present to share the experience; while I appreciate that the challenges of living with dementia aren’t easy to face up to, more and more of us are going to have to do just that.

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