Review: IN OTHER WORDS, The Hope Theatre

In a space as small and potentially claustrophobic as The Hope Theatre, all you need to make a play with such a heavy theme go wrong is getting even a minimal detail wrong. That's not the case at all for Matthew Seager's In Other Words, skilfully directed by Paul Brotherston.

The story of the decline of Arthur (Seager) thanks to Alzheimer's disease is seen through day-to-day moments with Jane (Celeste Dodwell), his wife, from the moment they meet through their struggles during Arthur's illness. We jump through the memories of this humorous, loving, lifelong couple, seeing the many sides of a story that sounds too real.

The play is vibrant even in its darkest moments, which are balanced by vivacious and brighter ones. Crucial is the use of music and lighting (respectively Iida Aino and Will Alder), which enhance and give even more life to the gut-wrenching, raw, and profoundly touching performances of the two actors. It's through the notes of Frank Sinatra that the couple celebrate their love and find solace in their darker times.

Ticking clocks, white noise, a flickering lamp, and changes in warmth and colour of the spotlights accompany the audience's journey through the intimacy of the pair, whose balance shakes more and more with time because of Arthur's disease.

It's a story that looks more like the tale of someone you know, with the raw performances of the actors forcing you to get involved from the very start of the play. Seager and Dodwell demonstrate a glorious ownership of their characters, from their playful and joyously intimate moments, to the tragic and dramatic descent into the destructive abyss of Arthur's Alzheimer's.

Brotherston's fine direction is outstanding in such a small venue, and makes it very clear that the show couldn't have worked so well in any other space.

In Other Words at The Hope Theatre until 18 March

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