Theater has always been a reflection of life, capturing our joys, struggles, and deepest fears. But perhaps one of the most poignant themes explored on stage is memory – how it defines us, and what happens when it starts to slip away. In Such Small Hands, Paul and Marie’s love story unfolds in the small rituals of their daily lives. Yet, as Paul begins to forget – words, places, moments – the question emerges: Who are we without our memories? And what remains when they start to fade?
Memory as Identity
Memory isn’t just a record of the past – it’s how we define ourselves. Our experiences shape our personalities, our relationships, our sense of home. Without memory, do we cease to be who we were? Theater has long wrestled with this question, exploring how characters navigate the loss of their own histories.
In Such Small Hands, Paul’s struggle with dementia is not just about forgetting facts; it’s about losing pieces of himself. Marie, his devoted partner, holds onto those pieces for him, reminding him of the life they built together. This interplay of remembering and forgetting is both heartbreaking and beautiful – showing us that love persists, even when memory does not.
Theater’s Unique Power to Capture Forgetting
The ephemeral nature of theater itself mirrors the fleeting nature of memory. Each performance is unique, just as each moment in life is – once it passes, it exists only in memory. This makes theater an especially powerful medium for exploring themes of forgetting. The audience, much like the characters, is asked to hold onto fleeting moments, knowing they will never come again in quite the same way.
Other productions have tackled this theme in striking ways:
🎭 The Father (by Florian Zeller) – One of the most acclaimed portrayals of memory loss, The Father immerses audiences in the disorienting experience of dementia. The play shifts perspectives, alters characters, and rewrites scenes in real-time, making us feel the confusion of its protagonist, André. It’s a theatrical experience that doesn’t just tell a story about memory loss – it makes us feel it.
🎭 Still Alice (play & film adaptation) – Based on Lisa Genova’s novel, Still Alice follows a linguistics professor diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s. The heartbreak of the story lies in Alice’s awareness of her own deterioration – she fights to hold onto her identity as long as possible, even as her words and memories begin to fail her.
🎭 Marjorie Prime (by Jordan Harrison) – A sci-fi take on memory and identity, this play imagines a world where AI-powered “primes” simulate lost loved ones, using recorded memories to keep their presence alive. But what happens when the memories are incomplete, or even rewritten? This play asks: Are we defined by the memories we hold – or the ones others hold of us?
Why Do We Tell These Stories?
Plays like Such Small Hands remind us of something deeply human: we are all memory-keepers. Whether we are experiencing memory loss ourselves or holding onto the past for someone we love, we are all engaged in the act of preserving identity.
These stories also help us build empathy. If you haven’t personally experienced dementia or memory loss in a loved one, plays like Such Small Hands bring you into that world – letting you feel the humor, the grief, and the profound love that persists despite it all.
At its heart, Such Small Hands is about more than memory. It’s about connection. The memories may fade, but love remains. And isn’t that what truly defines us?
Join the Conversation
Have you seen a play or film that captures the complexities of memory and identity? What moments from your own life do you hold onto most?
Let us know in the comments!
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