“You Will Remember Me” gives human face to Alzheimer’s Disease

When I first heard about the Centaur Theatre’s latest production “You Will Remember Me” by Francois Archambeault at last year’s season launch event, I thought it was going to a cosmic, space-age type of production (especially after looking at the play’s poster artwork).

A year later, as I attended an early performance of the English-language premiere of this play (which is now in the midst of its run that lasts until April 2), that space-age theme still clung to me as I witnessed in the theatre’s semi-darkness Eo Sharp’s breathtaking set design, which included a series of tall poles propped up by industrial strength wires. However, after catching the performance, I realized “You Will Remember Me” was not a play that dealt with outer space, but it was quite a cosmic experience, as it gave a powerful, human face to the ravages of the dreadful neurological affliction that is Alzheimer’s Disease.

The play focuses on Edouard (Jean Marchand), a highly respected history professor for a Quebec university, who in an effort to memorize all the names of his students, later realizes that he was in the wrong classroom to begin with. As a result of this little bit of personal confusion, Edouard is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. As he continually denies that he has this disease – yet his family comes to terms with it – the fabric of his immediate family begins to unravel. His faithful wife Madeleine (Lally Cadeau) starts to become unfaithful, as she deposits him to the home of their journalist daughter Isabelle (Johanna Nutter) practically every weekend so she could have a tryst with another man. In turn, Isabelle leaves her father in the care of her latest boyfriend Patrick (Charles Bender), who in turn leaves him to the care of his rebellious teenage daughter Berenice (Amanda Silveira). It is thanks to Berenice – though indirectly – that Edouard comes to terms with a family tragedy that has remained suppressed for over 20 years, which he attempts to do in a series of conversations with Berenice before the ravages of Alzheimer’s takes away not only his life, but the memories he has had through his life, whether they be good, bad or long forgotten.

“You Will Remember Me” marks the directorial swan song of the Centaur’s current Artistic and Executive Director Roy Surette, who will step down from this position at the end of the season. And he has done a masterful job with this choice of play to mark this swan song with the Centaur. It is a highly-charged, highly emotional production that shows one person’s struggle to recapture the memories of their life before a degenerative neurological disease gradually takes them all away in a devastating manner. The five cast members deliver stellar performances all around, especially Amanda Silveira as Berenice, who through a mixture of cockiness, reluctance and sensitivity, manages to do what the other members of Edouard’s immediate family cannot accomplish, and that is to bring out his fondest, cherished – and deeply buried – memories before it is too late.

To purchase tickets for the remaining performances of the run of “You Will Remember Me”, call 514-288-3161, or go to www.centaurtheatre.com.