REVIEW: STITCHES by Jonathan Blakeley at The Hope Theatre, 20 Feb – 9 March 2024

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“Explores how objects can become both raft and anchor on life’s choppy seas.” ★★★ ½

Once upon a time, there was a little girl called Chloe. When she was born, her grandma bought her a teddy bear with a red ribbon tied around its head. It had the softest brown fur she liked to stroke and round ears she would tug. The teddy bear was with her throughout her life, until it was cast away in a box for many decades. Eventually, Chloe was reunited with her bear. Except by now she was in a care home.

Stitches, a seventy-five-minute one man show has arrived at Islington’s Hope theatre for a three-week run. Written and performed by Jonathan Blakeley and vividly directed by Samantha Pears, this play explores the power of objects and the quiet devastation that can be wreaked by dementia. . In the case of Chloe, her bear is not only a comfort and constant companion, but the keeper of her precious memories. While this premise of a story told by a bear might seem mawkish, Stitches is anything but. Entertaining and moving, it explores the elusiveness of memory and how objects can become both raft and anchor on life’s choppy seas.

It is through her bear we witness Chloe’s trials and tribulations We move through nursery, children’s parties, and teenage encounters. There’s adolescent sex, a first period, experimentation with drugs and adult relationships. While this is all engaging and highly watchable, it feels a bit low stakes. Stitches takes off when Chloe and her bear are reunited in a care home. As Chloe’s mind starts to disintegrate, the emotional beauty of this story reveals itself. I would have liked to have seen more, perhaps less of the teenage years, but the circle drawn out by baby Chloe at the beginning and an increasingly incapable Senior Chloe is heart breaking and affecting.

Movement director, Charlotte Taylor, has impressively hatched a stuffed bear-like physicality from Blakeley's burly human form. To see Blakely being dragged around by an invisible hand or buffeted and spun in the washing machine or discarded in an old box are some of the performative rewards of Stitches. Blakeley is not just Big Ted, he’s Geezer Ted; an alpha male, ready to protect and defend the one he loves, fight off other toys and, were it possible, humans too. This memorable play will resonate with anyone who has direct experience of dementia or Alzeimers and reminds us all of life's ultimate fragility.

With support from Arts Council England and in conjunction with Alzheimer’s Society and the University of Stirling DSDC (Dementia Services Development Council) Jonathan Blakeley is running a series of storytelling and creative therapy workshops helping both those with the condition and carers, throughout the run at The Hope.

20 FEB - 9 MAR

7:45PM

STITCHES at The Hope Theatre, Islington

Box Office https://www.thehopetheatre.com/productions/stitches/

Writer / Performer

JONATHAN BLAKELEY

director

SAMANTHA PEARS

producer

SARAH LAWRIE

stage manager

JAYMIE QUIN-STEWART

set designer

CONSTANCE VILLEMOT

lighting designer

MATTIS LARSEN

sound designer

HATTIE NORTH

costume designer

CONSTANCE VILLEMOT

movement director

CHARLOTTE TAYLOR

Reviewed by Nilgin Yusuf