★★★★
“My husband is getting more like a child and less like my husband every single day”. This is just one of the many poignant lines that makes Matthew Seager’s, In Other Words, such a powerful piece of contemporary theatre. The play itself follows Arthur (played by Seager himself) and Jane’s (Lydia White) love story, which is one tinged by sadness and the devastating reality of Arthur’s battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
Beyond the show’s title, which comes from Sinatra’s ‘Fly Me to the Moon’, music plays an integral part of the show. It links Arthur and Jane’s love story from start to finish with them being thrown together by a spilled glass of red wine and a shared love for Sinatra’s music. Arthur and Jane marry to music, every argument they have ends with a song and it is music that connects their transition from youth into later life. Most poignantly, it is music that connects the show’s fundamental themes, love, loss and memory.
In the first few minutes of the play, it is Arthur and Jane’s unremarkable presence that makes them so extraordinary. Getting into the theatre a good ten minutes before the play starts was absolutely worth it. You get to see the rapport between Seager and White build up and are privileged enough to also get a free masterclass in improvisation from them both too! They bicker, giggle and reminisce like an everyday “old married couple”, they could be your grandparents, parents, family friends or strangers on the street, meaning that before the play even begins you feel like you have known them intimately for years.
It is this sense of realism that makes the play a more difficult pill to swallow at times. As a viewer, you see them meet, fall in love, grow older together and then face the pain of Alzheimer’s all in what feels like real time. At first, we see him forget what he calls “trivial” things such as milk and stamps at the shop but then he begins to get more agitated, angry and his memory loss becomes more and more noticeable.
Being witness to the process of Arthur’s decline becomes uncomfortable at times. The moments where he loses his temper feel so real that you almost jerk out of your seat. Of course, that is the intention and they are played to perfection by both actors but those scenes did feel slightly on the nose at times. Having the pleasure of seeing the show at Newcastle’s Alphabetti Theatre made the viewing experience all the more surreal. The intimacy of the venue intersected with the play’s difficult subject matter leaves you no choice but to feel the raw emotions felt by the characters leaving you completely encompassed in Arthur and Jane’s existence.
However, there are plenty of moments of light relief and humour in the play too. These act as a much needed tonic from the trauma and intensity of Arthur’s deterioration. The show is 70 minutes, so not especially long, but given there is no interval it can feel rather full-on at times.
In Other Words, Seager doesn’t shy away from the painful realities of Alzheimer’s disease. However, he does so with such compassion, consideration and class, that by the end of this show your heart is as warm as it is broken.
In Other Words is now set to head to Scotland, before returning to London’s Arcola Theatre to complete its UK Tour that has spanned over 30 venues.
Words by Cory Gourley
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