Maggie May

 

Review by Paul Towers, 7/6/22

Maggie May by Frances Poet

Directed by Jemima Levick

Produced by Curve, Leeds Playhouse & Queens Theatre, Hornchurch

At Curve til Saturday 11^th June 2022

“a rollercoaster of emotions; laughter, tears and sadness”

Oh my, what a rollercoaster of emotions; laughter, tears and sadness. This is what living with Alzheimer’s is like for sufferers and their nearest and dearest.

Maggie May (Eithne Brown), the titular character, is a retired school dinner lady and cares for husband Gordon (Tony Timberlake) who is himself recovering from a stroke. Maggie writes notes to herself all the time, she needs to keep track of what she needs to do. It is only when she enlists the help of best friend Jo (Maxine Finch) to fill in her mobile phone calendar that the extent of her memory loss is apparent to those around her. She has been keeping her Alzheimer’s diagnosis to herself to avoid worrying everyone. It is apparent that this is a family trait and son Michael (Mark Holgate) has inherited it and his bottling up of his feeling has led to the loss of his previous girlfriend. New beau Claire (Shireen Farkhoy) does her best to help him open up and becomes a valuable ally and friend to Maggie.

A beautiful set comprising a whole rig covered in notes hovers above the action to reinforce  Maggie’s need to keep track of everything. An ingenious set of tables and beds slide in and out along hidden channels as required. At one point the mechanism got stuck and we had a 5 min break to fix it. A very apt metaphor for the tricks the disease plays on the memory.

All five actors give impressive performances of this emotion filled play. Eithne Brown, of course, leads the company with astonishing acting that swings from joy to heartbreak and back again. Very early on we are shown that, for her, music is the key to bringing her back from the darkness and into the sunshine again. Brown and Timberlake have a great rapport and cheerfully sing all sorts of songs from their past.

The script by Francis poet is exemplary with very clever references to Harry Potter and the Dementors as a way to explain how the disease drains the very soul of a person until they are left an empty husk.

Most enlightening for those of us who have not yet had to deal with dementia is the way Maggie will stop hallway through a discussion, the lights will dim and she will give voice to her frustrations to the audience.

Set designer Francis O’Connor has created a wonderful background for the story and Chris Davey’s lighting ensures we can follow Maggie through her journey

Maggie is in Curve’s Studio until Saturday 11^th June. Go and see an entertaining and educational piece of theatre that everyone should experience.

 

www.curveonline.co.uk