Richmond Theatre – until 22 September2018
Reviewed by Adam Craddock
5*****
Having personally been hurt by the awful illness that is dementia, David Grindley’s new production of the play “Still Alice” was a very exciting prospect for me when I was cruising through the theatre listings. Based around the final years of an early onset Dementia sufferer’s life, “Still Alice” follows Alice, a Harvard professor as she declines into dementia’s ugly grasp. The play is an extremely clever and truthful portrayal of this and as a book it delivers on all fronts excellently.
Martin Marquez plays Alice’s tortured husband John to perfection, with his inner turmoil on full display to the audience in one of the most heart wrenching and emotional performances I have seen in a long time. Eva Pope was splendid as “Herself”, Alice’s inner thought manifested and vocalised. She brilliantly matched all of the mannerisms of Sharon Small as Alice and gave quite a darkly comedic turn in this role that really gave the piece as a whole a bit more of a punch in the key moments. Mark Armstrong and Ruth Ollman were strong as Thomas and Lydia respectively, with a real sense of maturity in their characters and some very emotional inter play with their on stage mother. Really well done guys! However, the standout performance of the night has to go to Sharon Small as Alice, the lady going through the living hell of dementia and trying to find out how to accept, was absolutely phenomenal. Her portrayal of a character with the vicious disease was sublime and really took on all of the nuances and little quirks that come about with someone suffering from dementia. This quite frankly was one of the finest performances that I have ever seen in my year in the theatre.
“Still Alice” is an anomaly, one of those special productions where I can’t in good mind pick a fault with it. I would recommend this production in the highest regard. If you want a solid piece of gut wrenching drama then get down to the theatre and see this, because you definitely will not be disappointed!