With ups and downs of humour and sadness, Flowers From Tunisia displays the difficult emotions, hopes and fears of a family dealing with dementia.

Dementia sufferer Reah (Christine Pritchard) lives with her son Keith (Richard Corgan), a former soldier, in Wales. When Rhea’s friend Rose (Pamela Merrick) gives the news that she had booked a holiday for herself and Reah in Tunisia, Keith’s reaction is one of deep worry for a mother who doesn’t even know what country she is in to start with.

Disregarding Keith’s concern, Rose whisks Reah off to Tunisia where they meet a local man named Khalid (Naoufal Ousellam). Here, the emotional and realistic upset of Reah’s condition is highlighted through her childlike mannerisms and her confusion of retelling stories by mixing together the past and the present. A very interesting line in the play was “There is something very pick ‘n’ mix about your memory” perfectly describing Reah and her condition.

Throughout the performance, it is interesting to see the prejudiced feelings toward foreign people highlighted through the characters of Rose and Keith – who is adamant that his military background gives him a richer knowledge of what people can be like. However, the play works to transcend these opinions, showing the contrast between our prejudical feelings about people and the reality. Flowers From Tunisia displays the Tunisian culture in an interesting way, highlighting the themes of peace and how Islam is practised. Such positive representation was heightened by Ousellam’s authentic portrayal of Khalid as he delivered a character everyone can love.

Pritchard has definitely conquered this challenging role and her performance was definitely one to remember – though the character that remained strongest throughout the play was Richard Corgan’s Keith. Corgan held the audience in the palm of his hand throughout the whole play, manipulating their emotions right up to the engaging and shockingly amazing ending. If he wanted us to laugh, we would. If he wanted us to be silent, we would. His performance was extremely touching and emotional, and displayed how difficult it is to cope with somebody you love suffering from dementia while having to deal with your own problems at the same time.

For those who have experienced the effects of dementia or for those who have little or no knowledge of the condition, Flowers From Tunisia is a wonderful and touching story full of laughter and tears that everyone can enjoy and which will leave you in a trance of emotion

WORDS: TAMSIN MATHIAS