Lost Lear – Riverbank Arts Centre – Review
Review by Frank L.

Written and directed by Dan Colley
Touring nationally to 10 venues: 20th October – 29th November

In the first sentence of his programme note, writer and director Dan Colley states “My grandmother lived in a care home for people with dementia”. Colley is himself immersed in the world of theatre and he uses some of the plot and imagery of Shakespeare’s King Lear to seek to understand better the effects of dementia on the brain of a person who is experiencing it. He dedicated the play to his grandmother Mary Colley.

The play is set primarily in a care home where Joy (Venetia Bowe) lives. She sits in a Buxton chair. There are two carers (Clodagh O’Farrell and Em Ormonde) who move in the background. Liam (Manus Halligan) is a doctor who believes in the SPECAL Method. “[It] encourages carers to identify a happy, fulfilling memory from the person’s pre-dementia past, and actively work to keep them in that memory”. Joy was an actor. Her “happy” memory is of a time when she was rehearsing to play the role of Lear. Halligan by the clever use of aprons manages to create the persona of Regan, Goneril and Cordelia and with a beret; the Fool. As a result, Joy is once more able to visit a triumph of her past – a place of happiness. However, her middle-aged son Conor (Peter Daly) comes to visit her in the home. He is sceptical about the SPECAL Method but is persuaded reluctantly to play the role of Cordelia. The vibes are not in alignment, the presence of the SPECAL Method falters and a different world emerges.

The staging is imaginative. The world outside the care home is created by a light, translucent curtain which masks the interior of the care home which lies behind it. Bowe is highly impressive as she imperiously dominates the proceedings in the ‘rehearsal’, from a time long past. Halligan is the master of the roles of Regan, Goneril, Cordelia and the Fool, as he humours Joy in remembering her “happy” past. He is equally assured as Liam the doctor, to both the audience and to Conor. Daly is similarly convincing as he tries with considerable reservations to enter into the pretence created by Liam around his mother Joy. The deeply unsettling physical effect of the disease on Joy is realised by the use of a puppet operated by O’Farell, Ormonde and the ubiquitous Halligan. It is a memorable and troubling tableau. The general sense of unease is further heightened by the projection onto the curtain of the faces of Bowe and Daly as they reveal part of the thought processes of Joy and Conor.

The entire performance is the bringing together of a multiplicity of skills to create a world in which there are innumerable barriers. Somehow with the imaginative use of Shakespeare’s text, the inventive staging and the quality of the acting, Colley has managed to create an understanding of the scale of the barrier.

As dementia becomes ever more commonplace in society for a variety of reasons a greater number of individuals are being affected by it either as patients or carers. Colley has created a bridge into that world which is both frightening and difficult to comprehend. The play is on a country-wide tour over the next month and it is a theatrical experience which is not to be missed.

TOUR INFO:

Riverbank Arts Centre //  20 + 21 October  // https://www.riverbank.ie/event/lost-lear/
The Everyman, Cork // 24 + 25 October //  everymancork.com
Westival, Westport 27th // 29th October  // westival.ie
The Town Hall Theatre, Galway // 8th November  // tht.ie
Project Arts Centre // 10th and 11th of November  // projectartscentre.ie
The Hawkswell, Sligo // 15th November // hawkswell.com
The Ramor, Cavan // 18th November // ramortheatre.com
Mermaid Arts Centre // 21st and 22nd November // https://www.mermaidartscentre.ie/whats-on/events/lost-lear
Draíocht Arts Centre // 25 November @ 8pm  // https://www.draiocht.ie/whats-on/lost-lear
The Civic Theatre, Tallaght // 28th and 29th November // https://www.civictheatre.ie/whats-on/lost-lear/