SATURDAYS DOON THE J.M. (Dundee Rep)****

 

By Louise

Link: https://dundeerep.co.uk/whats-on/saturdays-doon-the-jm

Available until: One more livestream on Saturday 22^nd May at 7pm.

Saturdays Doon the J.M. is sad and happy at the same time. It’s sad because of the underlying story and the reasons why the two characters, Eleanor and Andy, aren’t able to live together anymore. But it’s also really happy because now they are together, they’re mostly really enjoying themselves.

Andy has Alzheimer’s Disease and he’s had to move into a home. His wife Eleanor has come to visit him. She has brought him some things from home to look at. They talk about the past and meeting each other for the first time, on a Saturday night at the J.M. They talk and laugh and dance and have fun.

There are some sad moments too. They are really difficult to watch, especially as they probably happen a lot and will happen more and more often. Alzheimer’s Disease is very cruel and very sad. All forms of dementia are. People with Alzheimer’s can forget who you are and become easily upset which is understandable if they’re in a situation with people they don’t recognise who are acting like they know them, but it’s sad because they used to know you really well.

What I really love about this play is the way Eleanor really enjoys Andy’s company. She lets him decide what they talk about and she likes sharing memories with him. She doesn’t push him to remember anything more recent. She doesn’t correct him when he hasn’t quite got something right. She accepts him as he is. It’s probably really difficult emotionally for Eleanor to do that, but she does it and I’m sure that makes their time together even more special for both of them. One other special thing is that even now after forty years of marriage (which actually isn’t that long) they’re still learning new things about each other.

Saturdays Doon the J.M. was inspired by conversations with real-life people with Alzheimer’s and their partners, but the characters are fictional and not based on any two people. It feels more like a play than a musical, but music is very important to the story. The music is really wonderful and I thought the songs were old songs from the time when Eleanor and Andy would have been children, but the music is composed by Shonagh Murphy, who also wrote the book and lyrics with Lydia Davidson. It’s such lovely music and so perfect for the time when Eleanor and Andy would first have danced with it. The book is really great too and it shows how much they love each other. It’s really sweet, but there’s something really inspiring and admirable about it too. A lot of things in their lives are very different now, but some things haven’t changed.

Lydia Davidson is also the director and I love the way she’s focused on the love and the happy moments and that really encourages the audience to feel happy for the characters as well as sad for them. Alzheimer’s doesn’t mean they can never have any form of happiness again and this play shows that.

Annie Louise Ross is really lovely as Eleanor. I really love the way she still speaks to Andy as an equal. I think that’s really important. A lot of people with disabilities aren’t spoken to as equals, even when their disability is physical. But it’s not just that – she speaks to him lovingly too and she still sees him as her husband. But she is also really good at showing the little moments of sadness underneath, just enough for us to know they’re there.

Barrie Hunter plays Andy and he is really good too. He gives Andy such a great personality and I love his sense of humour. There are sad moments when we see his vulnerability and confusion, but we also see his strength and all his positive qualities and how much he cares about Eleanor. Both actors are really good singers too. They don’t sound like West End stars, but I do mean that as a compliment – they sound like two ordinary people who happen to be really good at singing.

Saturdays Doon the J.M. is a really lovely play. It’s difficult to say if the play would provide any happiness or hope or reassurance for people who do have family members with Alzheimer’s, but it’s easy to imagine that it does. I hope it does.