Fran Nicholson was a personal diamond shopper for a jewellery store in Houston, Texas, and worked as a professional jeweller for 37 years.
She was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2013 after Bill, her chain-smoking husband of 50 years, had died, and died herself, aged 86, two and a half years later.
In this finely detailed autobiographical two-hander based on Dayna Steel’s bestselling book, “Surviving Alzheimer’s with Friends, Facebook and a Really Big Glass of Wine”, she and Rebecca McWilliams – as her “magical” mother and imaginary friend Jo – shine a light on the cruel disease that, as Dayna says, “steals your ability to communicate”.
It’s moving, informative and, at times, darkly humorous as the bingo-loving Fran loses her memory, and with it her touch with reality, and reverts effectively to being a recalcitrant child throwing sugar-coated M&Ms at fellow care-home residents or ramming them with her walker. “We’re in the terrible twos,” Dayna, 67, a Texas radio personality who documented her mother’s decline on social media, says as McWilliams, 59, runs amok.
The stresses and strains of their intimate relationship are well depicted in this folksy production, sensitively directed by Laura Stearns. Flashing lights accompany an imagined quiz show on the issues raised by Alzheimer’s, while a spotlight enwraps Dayna’s face as she is racked with guilt (and loneliness) over her response as a caregiver, inventively highlighting some of the practical and psychological challenges it throws up.
- The Woman in the Mirror
- Zoo Southside
- Until August 30 (Not Aug 19)
