Finding Nana
Pleasance
15 August 2017
4 Stars
Jane Upton's autobiographical play about her grandmother is a beautifully crafted piece that charts a journey through dementia with great sensitivity. In trying to return to holidays with Nana on the Isle of Wight, Jane fears she too will lose memories of one of the most significant people in her life. She need not fear, this is a wonderful memorial.
Phoebe Frances Brown is excellent as Jane, skillfully taking us through stages of grief and recovery. The director, Katie Posner, allows the play to breathe and flow. The ingenious set design allows the bed to become the boat that charts its way through the waters of memory and its loss.
Although a personal piece, the play is about the shared experience of grief, and is a warm elegy to loss and love. You will not only feel that you know Jane's Nana, but leave with your loved ones with you.
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Paul is a playwright, director, actor, academic, (he has a PhD from the University of East Anglia), teacher and theatre reviewer! His plays include Living with Luke, (UK tour 2016), Play Something, (Edinburgh Festival Fringe/Drayton Arms Theatre, London 2018), , (2019), and now The Miner’s Crow, which won the inaugural Artist’s Pick of the Fringe Award at the first ever Colchester Fringe Festival 2021. In lockdown 2020 he created the audio series Isolation Alan, available on Youtube, and performed online in the Voice Box Festival. He is the founder member of Stage Write, a Colchester based theatre company, and his acting roles include Rupert in How We Love by Annette Brook, first performed at the Vaults Festival 2020 and revived at the Arcola and at Theatre Peckham in 2021. Follow: @stagewrite_
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