THIS was Pipeline Theatre’s first visit to the Georgian, and it’s my sincere hope that they return again soon. Bringing a topical, thought provoking and forward thinking piece, three accomplished actors and an amazing robot successfully moved the hearts and minds of a small but spellbound audience.

Judy Norman, who played Sally, perfectly captured the confusion and frustration of Alzheimer’s disease. Her fragmented memories were embodied by Hannah Stephens as her younger self, and Mike Tonkin Jones as her young husband.

As the robot prompts “Do you remember..?” Sally’s recollections piece together the story of a “brainiac” scientist who falls in love with a vibrant young girl.

Despite knowing he risked an inherited condition rendering him a “spillikin” – a wheelchair user who spilled things – their devotion was lifelong, and beyond.

His life’s work, a robot who would become her companion to keep alive their shared memories after his death, was conceptually fascinating and has amazing potential for dementia sufferers in the future.

Bookshelves forming the backdrop cleverly represented the loss of Sally’s faculties as the books thinned out over time, and allowed the projection of the shadow of trees and the dripping of raindrops to indicate the days and the seasons ebbing away.

Their wedding, celebrated in the local Wimpy on Mill Hill Broadway, is poignantly acknowledged by Sally as “the last thing I will forget”. The projection of footage of it at the end as the robot is finally alone on stage, left a heavy silence as its significance dawned on the audience.

Between the 90-minute show and the fascinating post-show discussion, the theatre was awash with patrons dabbing away tears. Jon Welsh’s writing, Will Jackson’s incredible robot and the skill of the actors combined to produce one of the most moving pieces I have seen in years.

Christina McIntyre