Dementia play hits West End

A play surrounding the neurodegenerative factors of Alzheimer's disease is currently running in London in a bid to raise awareness of the condition.

Becca Stevenson, whose father suffers from the condition, is in the starring role of the production For Once I Was at the Tristan Bates Theatre in Covent Garden, London, in a bid to support the Alzheimer's Society.

The performance tackles the experiences which younger people can have when they are in contact with the disease, based on similar themes to what Ms Stevenson went through herself aged 17 when she discovered her dad's condition.

She emphasised that while the play was not autobiographical, it played on some powerful themes.

Ms Stevenson explained: "She drops out of university to care for him. The play also looks at the transition between how the daughter views her father; first as a father, then a man."

The Tristan Bates theatre was established by Sir Alan Bates and his family to remember the talent of his son, who died at the age of 19 when starting out as an actor.

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