Written by Ron Coleman (aka The Demented Poet), himself a dementia sufferer, the inspiration for this thought-provoking musical was three people living with the diagnosis. They are James McKillop, Nancy McAdam and Agnes Houston, dementia activists, who are portrayed on stage by three 30 somethings. More of that later. Having started life as a play, it soon turned into a musical, composed by Sophie Bancroft with additional music by Andrew Eaton-Lewis. The narrative is based on the campaigning work of the three dementia activists and set in the near future when the fictitious British Bill of Rights allows the system to control individuals with dementia, deciding for them where they live and what they can do.
Karen Tennent’s set design is simple and versatile, with every prop on stage being used to imaginative effect. A Zimmer frame becomes the dock in a mock court room, an adjustable over-bed table becomes a desk, used by the delightfully named character, Rigid System (Pauline Lockhart). And three high backed vinyl chairs get centre stage attention and their own song, “The Enemy of the High Backed Vinyl Chair”, with funny and clever lyrics. The three protagonists, played by Ross Allan as James, Kirsty Malone as Agnes and Fiona Wood as Nancy are likeable and engaging, and display both good acting skills and strong singing voices. Wood’s voice has a particularly lovely tone, and the three voices together produced good harmonies. I loved Rigid System, the no nonsense super- efficient manager who speaks for the persecution (rather than the prosecution) in the court room scene. The humour was gentle, rather than laugh-out-loud funny and there were moments of pathos too, particularly in the final song “Loud and Clear” – “hear their voices, hear their choices, loud and clear”. Chris Stuart Wilson’s choreography was simple but effective and performed with excellent timing by the cast. From time to time, the big telly screen came to life as we went to roving reporter Willy Gilder, himself a dementia sufferer, as he gave us news flashes on the latest escapades of the Dementia Activists from a variety of locations.
Colin Grenfell’s lighting design was brilliant, (sorry!) The different lighting effects throughout added interest, with the use of spots on the characters speaking monologues in the court, highlights in all the right places and a golden wash for the final song. Tom Lyne’s sound design was equally impressive, with excellent balance between the backing tracks and the mics used by the actors. The sound level was subtle and not overpowering. I did wonder if there was an unseen live band behind the set, but the accompanying music was all recorded, which shows considerable skill on the part of sound engineers.
Dementia the Musical is directed by Magdalena Schamberger, and this production, which was played to a capacity audience, is perfectly paced and expertly executed, in fact practically perfect in every way. But here’s my problem with it, I do wish the main characters had been played by actors of a similar age to the people they were representing. I understand the thought behind reimagining them as their younger selves, but in my opinion, it would have been a lot more powerful to see older actors in the roles, and goodness knows, there are plenty of energetic and talented septuagenarians and even octogenarians who would excel in those roles and would relish the opportunity to do so. I think that casting actors of a more fitting age would have given the narrative more impact and relevance, without taking anything away from the humour, in fact might even have added to it.
Reviewer: H.S.Baker
Reviewed: 12th October 2024
North West End UK Rating: