Writer: Matthew Seager
Director: Andy Routledge
A domestic horror story, In Other Words first shows us a perfect love match, only to destroy it with something so common and yet unthinkably cruel.
Jane and Arthur’s meet-cute is typically awkward and ordinary, though it only takes a drink and a slow dance for them to realise that they might have something special. But they don’t have long together before Arthur’s mind starts to deteriorate, and their near-perfect relationship along with it.
Matthew Seager’s story skips between the tragic end, the idyllic beginning and middle, and another liminal space where Jane and Arthur are able to tell the story together, an impossibility in reality. The happy couple faces the audience directly, both in perfect health as though Alzheimer’s were merely a hard but finite challenge before their relationship could resume. This surreal device makes the truth of it all the harder to bear – this Arthur, healthy and happy and in love, doesn’t exist anymore past Jane’s memories, and the contrast becomes bleaker as the narrative goes on.
Lianne Harvey and Matthew Seager are adorable together, almost sickeningly so. You can feel the years and experiences between them, short as they might be; the playful banter along with the petty arguments, easily fixed with a silent plea and a slow dance to Sinatra.
Both are already on stage as the audience files in, quietly and lovingly conversing as Harvey sits at Seager’s feet. When the lights finally dim Seager makes his transformation to the final stages of Alzheimer’s, visibly shrinking and somehow losing all vitality in just a short few seconds, and Harvey quickly shirks off her happy glow, taking on the role of the unendingly patient, broken carer. These switches take place throughout and it would feel like a kind of magic trick if it weren’t so heartbreaking.
Director Andy Routledge keeps it quiet and ordinary, and that’s where the power is in this tale. Experienced by many, it’s not an unusual story, nor is it especially revelatory, but it’s told with humour and tremendous tenderness.
Runs until 30 September 2023
