by Nelson RodrÃguez
An intimate play at Fulneck Theatre brought the community together for an evening of
reflection, shared emotion and support for a local dementia-related cause.
At Fulneck Theatre on Thursday evening, 19 March, The Last Memory drew more than 60
people to a performance that felt intimate from the first moments, with the audience meeting a work of theatre rooted in real experience and shaped by Catherine Pasek’s own family story.
The play was inspired by the loss of both of her parents to dementia in 2016, and
by the production’s central wish to turn fear into tenderness, silence into witness and
memory into something that can still be passed on, in an atmosphere that gently moved
spectators between tears and smiles.
The piece follows Ernest and Lynne Hanson Wood as they face an Alzheimer’s diagnosis
and try to hold on to identity, affection and the everyday details that make a life recognisable.
The script returns again and again to the idea of a daughter becoming the keeper of her father’s memory, while he tries to leave behind a filmed message that preserves who he is before the illness changes the terms of family life, a theme that gives the production both its emotional weight and its quiet dignity.
Beyond its narrative, the play leaves a significant psychological reflection that resonates long after the final scene.
It not only portrays the inner disorientation experienced by those living with dementia but also brings into focus the often unseen emotional burden carried by caregivers, particularly family members who navigate anticipatory grief, fatigue and the gradual fading of shared identit.
It suggests that memory is not only something that is lost, but also something that can be protected, reconstructed and emotionally sustained through human connection.
The evening also carried a strong community purpose, since the performance was
presented in support of a local charity for people living with dementia.
60% of ticket income from this specific show is to be donated to that charity once confirmed, while the remaining 40% supports the Fulneck Dramatic Society and its non-profit work for the arts in Pudsey and the upkeep of Fulneck Theatre.
The post-show atmosphere added to the sense of care, as attendees gathered informally in the theatre corridor and engaged in a warm, personal exchange with the cast and director.
In the wider British context, the subject lands with particular force. More than 944,000 people in the UK are living with dementia and one in 11 people over 65 are affected, which reinforces the importance of community spaces where stories like this can be shared,
understood and felt collectively (nhs.uk).
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