Sundowner

Sundowner Syndrome is a fairly recently observed phenomenon in people in the early stages of dementia, whereby they appear to demonstrate more symptoms of forgetfulness, distress or crankiness as the sun goes down. This is a challenging subject, yet as more and more film and live performance groups are proving, the challenges associated with aging are proving popular with audiences.

Dance theatre company KAGE took up the challenge in 2009 when invited by Alzheimer’s Australia Victoria to create a performance piece that would both entertain and educate the general public. KAGE’s artists collaborated over two years with community groups and individuals whose experience of having early onset dementia, or caring for those who had, provided the material for the production Sundowner, currently touring Australia.

KAGE’s strength lies in their ability to create heart-stopping visual representations of abstract ideas, symbolic gestures’ and iconic images through the use of dance, physical theatre, circus techniques and pure gesture. Rather than relying just on their established physicality, for Sundowner they have devised a text-based performance, directed by Kate Denborough, that offers glimpses into specific thoughts and memories of the central character.

Helen Morse is at the top of her craft as Peggy who, in her late 50s, has younger onset Alzheimer’s. She is physically dynamic, vocally sure and takes us on the emotional rollercoaster ride with deft control over the subtleties and the complexities of such a profoundly disturbing experience. She is not well served by David Denborough’s relatively thin script, however, which provides the details as to her family relationships, and the behavioural problems they have to deal with, but little more.

The moments that lift this piece above the ordinary are those provided by the dancers, who become her children, her husband and the very concepts she struggles to articulate. Two walkers perform on a treadmill, their beautiful young bodies lithely and blithely coping with the changing pace as Peggy reveals how her memories are collapsing in time, her race to keep up with them and despair as they leave her behind; two dancers represent her younger self and her husband in their courting days, or her two children playing and teasing. The grown up children are also visualised in dance, or give voice intensely to the arguments over her care.

Throughout the performance, Peggy dreams of dancing days, or perhaps just sunny, happy days. At these moments we are blessed with the presence of five Tivoli Lovelies led by 80-year old Vicki Charleston. These original members of the Tivoli chorus have the combination of grace and groundedness that comes with maturity and life experience. Contrasting their clarity of focus and engaging presence with Peggy’s despair over the loss of her mental faculties is a stroke of pure genius.

‘More than dance. Not quite theatre’ is how KAGE describes itself. In this production the company have moved well into the realm of theatre, and for all Sundowner’s shortcomings, have created a powerfully entertaining theatrical experience.

Rating: 3 ½ stars out of 5