ABSTRACT
This chapter draws upon the reflective practice of members of a theatre production of the play Perish the Thought, written by Susan Harris, which charts the real-life decline of her father from dementia. The chapter describes some of the challenges in staging the signifiers of dementia and developing a musical narrative to accompany the play that underscores the decline of mental faculties with progressive dementia’that is to say, exploring how art can express suffering, compromising neither theatrical nor social truth(s). The chapter offers critique of theater production from multiple perspectives, not only from the theater-makers themselves, but also from critics, the medical profession and the general public.
