The Other Place: A Play About Alzheimer's Disease
The Other Place, a play by playwriter, Sharr White, portrays a middle-aged woman struggling with what seems to be an Alzheimer like form of dementia. Throughout the play, the viewer witnesses the many crushing phases that the illness has. Dementia and Alzheimer’s can be categorized into 3 phases: early, middle, and late. The many phases are shown by flashbacks and long narratives from the main character, Juliana.
Juliana is a middle aged neurologist ironically researching an anti dementia drug. At first, we see Juliana having brief episodes of passing out and having brief hallucinations. As she delivers some of her long narratives about her current life and family, we notice she can be quick to anger, extremely sensitive, and at times, intensely paranoid.
Through a flashback, we learn that Juliana had a daughter that ran out as a teenager and has been missing for the past twenty years. As she becomes obsessed with her daughters disappearance, the audience is able to see the pressures of her illness slowly eating away at her control over the situation and herself. The play culminates in an episode where we see Juliana has completely forgotten where in time she is and that her daughter has been missing for years. She breaks into the vacation home her family used to own, believing she still lives there and mistakenly believes the younger woman living there is her own missing daughter. It is truly heartbreaking to watch this woman, who at one point was so smart and successful, lose her complete sense of self and her surroundings.
Juliana is a middle aged neurologist ironically researching an anti dementia drug. At first, we see Juliana having brief episodes of passing out and having brief hallucinations. As she delivers some of her long narratives about her current life and family, we notice she can be quick to anger, extremely sensitive, and at times, intensely paranoid.
Through a flashback, we learn that Juliana had a daughter that ran out as a teenager and has been missing for the past twenty years. As she becomes obsessed with her daughters disappearance, the audience is able to see the pressures of her illness slowly eating away at her control over the situation and herself. The play culminates in an episode where we see Juliana has completely forgotten where in time she is and that her daughter has been missing for years. She breaks into the vacation home her family used to own, believing she still lives there and mistakenly believes the younger woman living there is her own missing daughter. It is truly heartbreaking to watch this woman, who at one point was so smart and successful, lose her complete sense of self and her surroundings.
