Elliot is suffering from dementia while his three daughters are doing everything in their power to help him through it; sisters Alma, Liz, and Ordelia are trying to ensure their father’s well being, and Elliot is merely trying to hold on to his mind. This is what’s going on in Taking Leave, a new play at Langham Court Theatre.
“What you have is Elliot, a retired university professor, a Shakespeare expert, being forced to retire early due to early onset Alzheimer’s disease,” says Alf Small, who plays Elliot. “From there is he deteriorates fairly quickly; the Alzheimer’s advances quite rapidly, and his family finds him a live-in caregiver who looks after him. As the Alzheimer’s advances they are becoming quite concerned. He’s quite incoherent at times; he forgets who his daughters are and he confuses them with students.”
According to Small, the complexity regarding the state of dementia, the poignancy, and, at times, the humour, are what make the show spectacular. He says Taking Leave is a dramatic comedy that invokes a spectrum of emotion.
“There are elements of comedy to the show,” says Small. “We’re trying to inject a little bit of humour into it, to show a bit of the humorous, to keep it lighter. There is a real mix of pathos and poignancy, but sprinkled with some humour. One aspect of dementia, particularly Alzheimer’s, is the stress and anxiety it causes for family members. It can produce great guilt and conflict in families as they wrestle with what to do as their cherished loved one becomes a stranger.”
Small has been in Victoria’s live-theatre scene for almost 25 years; he says that dedication is key when attempting to authentically play a character.
“I love to watch live theatre, and as an actor I’m always looking at suspension of belief,” he says. “I always ask myself, ‘Is this person really, really convincing me to suspend my belief? Is this authentic?’
“One of the interesting aspects of being on stage is that it’s one of those few times in my life when I feel like I’m living in the moment; everything else just disappears. You become so focused on trying to play your character authentically. It commands all of your attention and everything on the peripheral just disappears.”
Taking Leave
Wednesday, March 1 to Saturday, March 18
$16 student tickets, Langham Court Theatre
langhamtheatre.ca