We all have forgetful moments. We all wake up with a jolt in the middle of the night suddenly remembering we’ve missed a friend’s birthday or turn back just as the bus arrives just to check we have definitely turned the oven or our hair straighteners off.
However, sometimes forgetfulness is more than just a momentary memory lapse. It can sometimes be a sign of an underlining medical disorder that is rarely addressed in many mainstream forms of media.
Haringey based performing arts company Theatre Re have created a thought-provoking new play called The Nature Of Forgetting, which looks at the devastating effects of people living with dementia, and will run at Shoreditch Town Hall, in Old Street, until Friday, January 20.
On Tom’s 55th birthday, he dresses for his party, but as he is doing so, memories from his life suddenly come rushing back.
Director Guillaume Pigé, who set up the theatre company in 2009 after moving to London from Lyon in France, explains why he wanted to explore what remains within us when memory is gone…
The 31-year-old says: “Memory is not straightforward- it is a complex thing in your mind.
“I thought it was interesting as there is a presumption that when you are diagnosed with dementia, it is almost the end. But I am strongly opposed to that thought and I don’t think it is true. So I wanted to find out what makes us human being, even when we have no memory. We couldn’t find an answer so we decided to make a show about it.
“We began with a workshop on stage and it really developed from there. I thought it was a great way for us to tell our story and was like having a stage on stage. One of the main challenges of this show was trying to think about how to show memories and tell a story about something other people can’t see. A memory is visual only to you and so other people will never see what you remember.”
In order to create the show, Guillaume used the knowledge of UCL neuroscientist Kate Jeffery to make sure he portrayed memory loss in an accurate way. However, he then had the challenge of making the idea of memory into a visual piece.
He says: “The way I explained it to the actors when we first started to make the show was that when a writer can’t describe something fully, they will use a metaphor, and that is what I wanted to do with this show. It has become a metaphor.
“We have been working on the subject for about a year and a half now and we all know someone who at some point of their lives will be affected by dementia. It is a disease that affects everyone, but the message in the play is that there is still life after being diagnosed with it.
“You rarely find the right medium to voice about dementia, and it is important to realise that it affects both those who suffer from it and also those who care for people with the condition.”
Guillaume moved to the UK in 2007, where he studied drama at RADA for a year, before completing a three year course in mime at the Theatre De L'Ange Fou International School Of Corporeal Mime, in Marlborough.
However, he was inspired to set up his own performing school after finishing his studies and has never looked back since.
He says: “I have never directed anything like this before, and it has really taken us somewhere different and made us think about things differently.
“At the beginning of the process I was just directing and not performing, but that all changed as we got more into it.
“It is the biggest team that I have ever engaged with here, as there are about 15 creatives involved, so it is a big step forward for the company.”
The Nature Of Forgetting, Old Street, Shoreditch Town Hall, until Friday, January 20, details: shoreditchtownhall.com
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