The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
    • Shows & On demand
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureTheatre

The Flood at the Hope

The Flood at the Hope | Theatre review
13 August 2014
Alexandra Sims
Avatar
Alexandra Sims
13 August 2014

Alzheimer’s has ensnared the lives of Arthur and Grace Smith. After 50 years of marriage, Grace’s decaying memory haunts the couple’s Yorkshire household, continually dredging painful reveries from the past and plunging Arthur into his previous life as World War II prisoner of war. As torrential rain falls, isolating the pair amid ever-rising flood water, Arthur’s efforts to care for his wife become increasingly futile as Grace descends deeper into her own mental seclusion.

Part of the Hope Theatre’s HopeFull Festival, which celebrates new voices by calling on emerging writing talent, DHW Mildon’s The Flood is a tragic and harrowing piece examining the vast lengths to which we will go for those we love. A stark, minimalist set directs attention upon the impressive cast, while the intimate traverse stage plants us directly in the midst of the action, escalating each graduation of despair.

Director Simon Evans has created a seamless, enthralling production that submerges us straight in the icy depths of the couple’s anguish. Ian Chaplain is brilliant as Arthur, the kindly war veteran who, haunted by his past, struggles to care for his wife and her fraying mental state. Garnon Davies injects some welcome comedy as Hugh, Arthur’s joke-telling, rebellious fellow soldier, while Lucinda Curtis delivers an astounding performance as Grace, oscillating flawlessly between her conflicting moods of elation, confusion, anger and grief. Each time Grace finally pinpoints the realities of her life, the effect is utter devastation; Curtis excels at her craft delivering a performance both phenomenally affecting and staggeringly realistic.

Refreshingly, Mildon focuses on Arthur and his struggle not only caring for his wife but forced to repeatedly open old wounds. Looking back at Arthur rather than Grace’s memories is an original twist, drawing parallels between Alzheimer’s and the soldier’s typhoid, cementing Alzheimer’s as the typhoid of our time. Tender, stirring and poignant, The Flood is an innovative portrayal of a troubling illness.

★★★★★

Alexandra Sims

The Flood is on at the Hope Theatre from 1st August until 30th August 2014, for further information or to book visit here.

Related Itemsalzheimersdhw mildondramaloveplay

More in Theatre

Swimming Home: An immersive online experience

★★★★★
Selina Begum
Read More

Live Lab at The Yard Theatre: An interview with associate director Cheryl Gallagher

Mersa Auda
Read More

We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online

★★★★★
Samuel Nicholls
Read More

We Ask These Questions of Everybody: An interview with Amble Skuse and Toria Banks

Mersa Auda
Read More

Public Domain at Southwark Playhouse

★★★★★
Michael Higgs
Read More

Unlimited Festival at the Southbank Centre: Centre stage for diversity

★★★★★
James Humphrey
Read More

RSC Next Generation: Young Bloods proves Shakespeare is timeless

Brooke Snowe
Read More

An interview with Ifrah Ismael: Tales from the Front Line and other stories

Selina Begum
Read More

A Livestream with David Bedella at Crazy Coqs Online

★★★★★
Regan Harle
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Theatre review

Dates

1st August - 30th August 2014

Price

£12

Links & directions

WebsiteMap

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Live Lab at The Yard Theatre: An interview with associate director Cheryl Gallagher
    Theatre
  • Arlo Parks – Collapsed in Sunbeams
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • The Capote Tapes
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • The Dig
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Crobar: Music When the Lights Go Out
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Green stars, two female chefs at the top and a controversially quick award: This is 2021 UK Michelin Guide during the pandemic
    Food & Drinks
  • Assassins: Exclusive new clip
    Cinema
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Uncategorised
  • Schemers
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Green stars, two female chefs at the top and a controversially quick award: This is 2021 UK Michelin Guide during the pandemic
    Food & Drinks
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Uncategorised
  • Arlo Parks – Collapsed in Sunbeams
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

The Long Road South at the Hope | Theatre review
Engineers – Always Returning | Album review