Writer: Joe Carnall Jnr
Director: Lauren Partridge
This impactful play with music at its heart tells the story of Granddad Jack McBride’s dementia and how he, his wife Jean and grandson Billy face the new reality of his condition. Written and composed by Sheffield musician Joe Carnall Jnr (Milburn, Reverend & Makers), How Could I Forget? is his debut offering as a playwright and has taken five years in the making. The result is a moving, compassionate ‘love letter to grandparents.’
Jack McBride, the granddad, was quite the lad in his younger days. He came from Glasgow to work in the steel works of Sheffield. It was there he met his wife Jean and started a family. Throughout his life Jack loved singing and playing the piano, which is a prominent feature in their living room.
Their grandson Billy is at university and is a regular visitor to his grandparents’ house. Billy lacks the confidence that Jack had in abundance. Jack encourages his grandson to play music and his grandmother wants him not to spend all the time in the library but to find a girlfriend and get out there. Billy is a budding musician but the thought of performing is excruciating for him.
It is through the music and the narrative of the songs that the three principal characters express their feelings and emotions. As Jack’s memory fades and he becomes increasing confused, he slips between the present and his past. The transitioning from the past to the present works well and seamlessly. You can see Jack’s demeanour physically change as the dementia takes hold. Gerard Fletcher as Jack McBride is so believable and has a powerful and clear singing voice.
Jean, his wife, transmits practicality. She is supportive, loving and loyal to Jack. Cathy Breeze as Jean gives an excellent performance.
Grandson Billy is unsure how to best help his grandparents. Jamie Wray who plays Billy is a 21-year-old university student himself. He has a fine singing voice and is an accomplished musician. His demeanour as an insecure young man, gauche and embarrassed by what the older generation can sometime inflict on the young is totally convincing.
The two supporting actors, Richard Galloway and Holly Durkin, play a multitude of very successful and eclectic roles. Galloway is Roger, Jack’s national service buddy, in one scene and a bar manager in another scene, while Durkin switches from a sergeant major, a pub landlady to an empathetic care worker.
Though the story of dementia can be harrowing, Joe Carnall Jnr’s play radiates love and humour, music and song, ordinary lives and stories that the audience can relate to.
As part of the Sheffield’s first Open Works Festival, How Could I Forget? Certainly, meets the brief of connecting artists and audiences and lived experiences. The audience were on their feet, giving a standing ovation to this sell out run at the Playhouse, with apparently only 6 days of rehearsal, it was an outstanding performance.
Runs until 10th October 2026
Touring in the North in 2026
The Review Hub Star Rating
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10
