[THEATRE AND PHYSICAL THEATRE/Immersive ~ South Australia]
The Studio at Holden St Theatres, Tue 7 Mar, 2023.
Fish Bowl is part seminar, part theatre. While daring to
entertain on a touchy subject like dementia it also provides a lot of advice on
how to cope with, and treat, people with dementia.
Set in an aged care nursing home the players switch between
being patients and carers, often quickly shifting from troubled /troublesome
patient to narrator in the same scene. It’s a very effective technique that
holds audience attention and attempts to explain the patient’s behaviour - why
the patient might be all of a sudden roaming around the room in an agitated
state, or affectionately addressing a soft toy as their spouse.
There is a tragi-comic aspect to dementia that is also on
show here. As the old cliché says, you don’t know whether to laugh or cry, and
often either response is appropriate.
But people in the caring role have to get past that and come up with
strategies to deal with the situation at hand. Fish Bowl shows us several
delightful examples: a scene encouraging a patient to recite a long poem while
getting them ready for bed is quite beautiful and amazing to watch.
There are also moments of extreme, violent anger that are
quite scary. Such are the swings and roundabouts of dealing with dementia –
childlike joy one moment; explosive fury the next.
Full marks to Fish Bowl Theatre for delving into this
challenging territory. It’s instructive and enjoyable theatre that attempts to
cast somewhat of a positive light on how one can cope with people who have
dementia; how one can build relationships across the cognitive disconnect. I commend them for that but the sooner a cure
is found for this dreadful dignity sapping disease the better.
Director: Steph Daughtry
Writer: Matthew Barker
Performers: Matthew Barker & Evie Leonard.
This review also published on The Clothesline.
