“The Old Woman” is a melancholy story of one son’s experiences in helping to care for a mother with dementia. Writer and performer John Grady couches this show in the framework of telling stories. His own stories, the stories of his mother - we hear the recording of his mother at the beginning of the show and later find out that Grady recorded his mother telling stories from her life - and even the recital of an old Irish bedtime story called “The Old Woman.” This piece poses more questions than it answers, but in an intentional way to spark thought. ‘Do the drugs we take make us better, or are they actually to blame for making us sicker?’ was particularly poignant. Grady is able to infuse some comedy into the beginning of the piece, but as ...
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