Review: Stitches, The Hope Theatre

Review: Stitches, The Hope Theatre

There’s surely a passing nod to Toy Story in Jonathan Blakeley’s Stitches. Here it’s a teddy bear that is sentient, and through his eyes that we watch Chloe, the girl to whom he has been entrusted, take her journey, all the way from cradle to grave. But perhaps comparison to Toy Story ends the moment Bear let’s rip his first expletive-laden sentence quite early on in the performance!

Stitches really is a story of two halves. The first covers Chloe’s formative years, from those early days in her cradle through her childhood and young adulthood. Bear (Blakeley) goes from a constant companion to Chloe to being a witness of events from the shelf he finds himself demoted to as she gradually grows out of her childhood ways. But of course, this allows him into some of her most intimate moments, because the bedroom is a place that holds such secrets. There’s a lot of fun to be had in this first half, and Blakeley’s performance wrings out all the humour and emotion of seeing a young girl grow up. His Bear is full of love and protective tendencies towards Chloe as he watches over her and gets dragged all around with her. But as with all of us, Chloe grows out of needing a teddy bear companion, and so he is consigned to a box with all the other childhood mementos.

Blakeley’s writing allows for us to feel emotionally entwined with Chloe. We share Bear’s anger when she is wronged, and his joy of just being part of her life. There are lots of wonderful little touches that, whilst subtle, build that bond between girl and bear, especially the way he always returns to Chloe squeezing his soft ear as a way of comforting herself. It’s also rather amusing to have this teddy portrayed as a little thuggish in his protective nature, his anger and foul-mouthed outburst as he witnesses Chloe being wronged just reinforcing how much he loves her. Alongside his writing, Blakeley’s performance of Bear draws us deeper in. His physicality as he demonstrates being dragged along by Chloe really does make us believe he is a teddy bear in the grips of a young, excited child.

But it’s in the second half of Stitches where the real story lies, and where the real emotional punch comes. Bear is back in her life, but now Chloe has aged, and Alzheimer’s has taken hold of her mind. The teddy witnesses the woman he has always loved and cherished but now she has lost her essence. Yet deep inside she is still that small child that he grew up with. For anyone who has seen a loved one lost to such a terrible illness, it is going to be an emotional watch as Bear expresses his own confusion as to why this once young and full of life girl is now so different and unable to even remember the simplest of things.

Whist it’s never quite clear whether we are truly witnessing this through the eyes of her teddy bear or in the mind of Chloe as Alzheimer’s takes hold and her mind reverts to childhood memories, it hardly matters. Instead, it’s enough to appreciate both Blakeley’s writing and performance in this unique portrayal of the devastation of dementia that currently is estimated to affect nearly a million people in the UK alone.

Written by: Jonathan Blakeley
Directed by: Samantha Pears
Produced by: Sarah Lawrie
Set and Costumes design by: Constance Villemot

Stitches plays at The Hope Theatre until 9 March. Further information and bookings can be found here.