The 85-year-old was diagnosed after experiencing difficulties during rehearsals for a previous production. Rather than stepping away, he returned to the stage this autumn in a solo performance that explored memory, ageing and the passage of time. The production at the Cockpit Theatre in London was supported with practical measures including an autocue, a prompt earpiece and additional rehearsal time.
It also incorporated recordings from Marinker’s earlier performance of the same role in 1983. “As an actor I love to share other’s created characters and words,” he said, as he prepared for the performance. “I believe them and convey them to an audience for them to believe them. Nowadays we use gadgets to remember things, to remember ourselves. Krapp uses a tape recorder to remember the words of his young self. A couple of years ago I discovered I had Alzheimer’s disease. Now I feel very excited to do the show.”
Marinker continued: “My brain is taking me on a journey with more of the right side of my brain than the left. The right brain of instinct and feeling rather than the left brain of calculation and thoughts. In our society the left is the dominant side. I feel that the excessive reliance on the left is taking us, or in my case, my children and grandchildren, over a cliff. Now I’m reaching back into my past to find something to help me in the present.”
“We are doing this production because of Peter’s Alzheimer’s, not in spite of it,” added director Dave Wybrow. “Our relationship with memory is never perfect yet it dominates our sense of self and our sense of meaning. Krapp is the perfect play to describe that. And doing the play with Peter is the perfect way to do it.”
The four-day London run in September raised funds for the Alzheimer’s Society.
Image: Chris Lincé for Stagefright Films
