Slipping Through My Fingers - Play Preview
Slipping Through My Fingers, play containing a “powerful and moving story crossing three generations of incredible women exploring love, loss and the impossible task of letting go” will be making its debut in Gibraltar on the 23rd and 24th September at the Ince’s Hall.
Written and directed by Alex Louise of Beware My Sting Productions, the play explores the challenges of coping with Alzheimer’s disease.
Speaking to YGTV, Alex explained the potential pitfalls of writing a play that dealt with such a distressing topic: “I found it really cathartic and at the same time hard to get the tone right to make sure I could show the nuances of both the disease and losing someone to it. I wanted to make sure I made the character real and authentic and we all have different reactions and ways of coping. I also consulted with my mum and sister a lot through the writing to get their perspective on their own experience with it.”
The playwright says that it was important, when writing a role for a character with the disease, to make sure it “felt real” and that the result was “not a caricature of Alzheimer’s.” In this task, she was helped by her own family experience: “The scenes where you start to see the impact of the disease are actual experiences we had with my grandmother, her words and her actions. This was the only way I felt I could honestly portray the disease.”
She says the play grew in an organic manner after she completed a playwriting course in 2024.
“We were given practical writing tasks to write short scripts and characters that involved conflict, so I started writing about one of the arguments we had with my grandmother (I called her Nana) during the beginning stages of the disease, and I just felt like there was something there to explore so I wrote more scenes based on other experiences during that time. I thought what was so interesting was the relationship between parent and child and how those roles swap when you get older.
“I knew I was on to something after doing a performed reading of the play in front of an audience and it got good feedback.”
Although Alex had dabbled in directing in the past—she co-directed a production of Taming of the Shrew and new piece of work called Unsanctioned—Slipping Through My Fingers is the first play she has both written and directed.
She expands: “I learnt a lot and realised how much work and structure I needed to implement to get this production off the ground. I was extremely lucky that I have an experienced and very talented cast who were instrumental in putting the piece together, it was an extremely collaborative process. They helped me be less apologetic and more confident as a director and made such good suggestions when it came to cuts or script edits that I could let go about being precious about the writing and concentrate on what worked well for the play.”
Alex says she’s enjoyed “being on the other side” and thinks being an actor has given her a “great insight into what actors need.”
The play debuted at the Brighton Fringe, thanks to financial support from Ginny and Albert from Trafalgar Pharmacy whom Alex refers to as “basically family.” The show was a “real family collaboration” with Alex’s mum and sister helping out too.
Speaking about the Brighton event, where the play received 5 star reviews and was named an outstanding show, Alex adds: “It went down really well, we were basically sold out all the three nights we performed (I think we had one seat available each night!) and we received wonderful feedback from both audience and reviewers. I think people thoroughly enjoyed the fact that that I didn't sugar coat the experience; it dealt with difficult family relationships and the complex feelings around that. We had people laughing out loud at moments and by the end there wasn't a dry eye in sight. One of my friends actually lost a contact from crying too much!”
The cast were told by someone who worked in dementia care that they depicted the disease “so honestly and accurately, which was fantastic to hear.”
“The story I wrote connected with people but I have to give massive credit to my actors Jules Craig, Sarah Widdas and Seerche Deveraux for bringing the life and humanity to the characters.
“We also worked with Alzheimer's Research UK to raise awareness and fundraise for them and their charity representative for Sussex came to see the production and loved it.”
Alex and her cast are currently rehearsing and preparing for the show in Gibraltar and introducing a new actor to the role of Amelia, Emma Howarth a “brilliant actor” Alex went to drama school with.
Looking to the future, the Gibraltarian playwright says: “I have plans to apply for Arts Council Funding and do a tour of the show in the UK in the near future and I've written the first draft of my next play, a feminist retelling of the Greek myth of Medusa.
“As much as I would love this to be my full time career, I'm not there yet! I am very lucky that I work for a fabulous travel company called Out Of Office who specialises in luxury travel for the LGBT+ community and who have been very supportive of my work.”
The cast list consists of: Jules Craig as Maggie, Sarah Widdas as Lou and Emma Howarth as Amelia, with Seerche Deveraux as Assistant Director. Performances will be held at the Ince’s Hall on the 23/24 September at 8pm.
Tickets can be purchased via: https://www.buytickets.gi/events/slipping-through-my-fingers-1300
