Raynar Rogers
On a dimly lit stage, a woman in an exquisite but dated sequinned dress wanders with a traditional fan. Even before the show starts, her presence is calm, comfortable and watchable. She starts the show in a counting rhythm from one to five until her confusion kicks in and all chronology breaks away. Time, structure and reality become major themes in Dance With Dementia which is produced by Taiwan’s Bandone Productions. Our character uses the momentum of the broken sequencing to start running, reaching out for an escape route somewhere in the mind. The imagery is a beautifully desperate opening to the performance.
The exploration of events are monotonous, heart breaking and tragically funny on occasion. It is clear when the work highlights reality and when it offers a metaphor as the show moves us through moments in a life and in a mind. While it has very few lines of dialogue, the show handles its topic with a gentle truth that can only come from sensory simplicity. Taipei city soundscapes and live lighting addition offer a set of deep colours for the show’s canvas.
Dance with Dementia doesn’t only present a topical show, it places the audience in an unfamiliar world, in the mind of a person suffering from dementia, from her fascinations to her confusion to a deep sense of grief, sometimes all within a three minute sequence. A few of key moments sit with me after the performance; the slow and perfect peeling of an apple- a memory that is so etched it is impossible for our character to forget, the spotlight of a mirror becoming a visual game and looking back at oneself in a moment of intense emotional clarity. Perhaps the most impactful moment for me is a television remote control that when pressed activates the sound of building works outside of the window- a stark reminder that through the view of our character our eyes and ears deceive us.
Our character, played delicately by Suzanne Huen who is also the show’s creator, is in many ways the perfect theatrical device; as she sets the scene for us with physical suggestions and well positioned objects we come to learn that we cannot trust the character’s mind to place us in a particular setting or position. As she tries to do so, our expectations are flipped. Our character doesn’t always know or understand her surroundings, and thus we stumble with her through this journey open-eyed, cautious and uncertain. This makes for a truly exciting theatrical production that plays on the medium of theatre to support the pain and discomfort of dementia.
For Huen who honours her late mother with this performance and for many others that will be a witness to it, this show is healing. Dance With Dementia is innovative, exquisite and entrancing. It is the work of a small team of true artists, and Prague audiences are very lucky to have this show grace our stages.
Recommended Drink: Skip the drink, opt for a hot bowl of Lu Rou Fan 滷肉飯 instead. A classic home comfort to wipe away the tears.
Catch Dance with Dementia on Friday 29th May from 21:15 at Divadlo Inspirace. Tickets are available through the Prague Fringe Online Box Office.
Image Credit: Zeke Lee
Salvador Kent
Magdaléna Škerenčák
