Set in a nursing home, Mind Walking explores what happens to a family when an old Indian man Bobbie slips into the first stages of Alzheimer’s. Bobbie has spent all his adult life in Britain, but in a care home he reverts back to his first language which he spoke as a boy in Bombay in the 1940’s. His family are devastated and how do they manage to communicate with Bobbie? How do they understand Bobbie’s life, as he enters a territory that they cannot comprehend? Has Bobbie’s whole life been a lie?
The show mixes traditional performance with an aerial component, where the actors hang or move through a single cerceau that creates a poetic visual dimension to the play as well as serving as a metaphor for the gradual decline of Bobbie’s mind. As secrets and hidden stories tumble out, this family drama explores notions of home, cultural identity and family bonds.
Mindwalking was presented by Bandbazi theatre, it had its premiere on 29th September 2011 and ran until October 2nd, before embarking on a UK tour until November.
“Mind Walking has moments of lucidity and others that are a mystical tangle of sights, sounds and memories” British Theatre Guide
