Maggie May – Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch and Touring

Eithne Browne and Mark Holgate in Maggie May at the Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch and Touring. Picture: Ellie Kurttz

Maggie May continues at the Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch until 28 May 2022 and then tours to Curve Leicester from 7-11 June 2022.

Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩

Maggie (played by Eithne Browne) and Gordon (Tony Timberlake) meet in 1971 and have been dancing to the sounds of Cliff Richard, Chairmen of the Board, and The Jackson 5 ever since. Now in their sixties, and still very much in love, they’ve been finishing each other’s songs all their marriage.

In the past Frances Poet has demonstrated a great talent for writing dramas that tackle illness, previously penning Fibres (2019), a play all about a shipyard worker and his wife living with asbestosis, and Still (2021), a piece that featured a woman with chronic pain. Maggie May continues this trend and speaks to us all about dementia, very much from Poet’s heart.

Directed by Jemima Levick, the show is a fascinating and educational tale, influenced by Poet’s experience with her own father, who was affected by dementia in her later life. The play does a great job, along with all of the characters portrayed, in showing the impact that dementia can have on the person suffering and all those around them.

With music from artists such as Chairmen of the Board and Bryan Ferry sung throughout the show, these songs are very much a reflection of Maggie and Gordon’s relationship, while also drawing in Claire (Shireen Farkhoy), Jo (Maxine Finch) and Michael (Mark Holgate)

Maggie May very much ends on the mystery of things to come, leaving us with the truth of the matter, that Alzheimer’s never really has a resolution. But it does also conclude on a positive note, emphasising that friends and family should not simply give up on you. Timberlake does a great job of portraying this, expressing a real loving relationship between Gordon and Maggie.

I enjoyed the night and it very much a pulled at my heartstrings. I have already recommended it to a few of my friends, some of whom have been affected by dementia.

Andy Wilkin