A Better Memory
It’s been a year since Harold died and Eleanor is only now beginning to be ready to go through the boxes of his belongings, deciding what to keep from four decades together, finding a place to put his ashes and deal with the most daunting aspect, the artificial intelligence construct modelled on his memories, diaries and digital footprint, intended to be companion and guardian, a home help agent making sure she is not lonely or in distress.
Her friend Mia checking in on her, pushing her to move on, the new Harold closely resembles an idealised version of her late husband; she can silence him, edit his obsession with cricket, and he is attentive, but like Mia’s “emotional support app,” is he protecting her or manipulating her? And, with specific details he gets wrong despite corrections, are these contradictions deliberate or is it Eleanor who is forgetting?
Performed by Lubna Kerr and directed by Ihsan Kerr and Kathryn Marper with support from Marper and Codge Crawford as Mia and Harold, A Better Memory isn’t helped by the location, largely a sit-down talking piece of relationships, hopes and the comfort of company and nostalgia as a coping mechanism competing with the evening noise of the Pleasance crowd just beyond the thin walls, but neither is it as compelling as it might be.
Harold the most interesting and rounded character despite being artificial, with heavy use of overlaid soundtrack, the self-aware clarity of Abba’s lyrics and perfect voices offering more than Eleanor’s dilemmas and Elvis repeatedly used as an emotional trigger, Mia’s awkward intrusions are a clumsy mechanism to set up a final scene, ultimately worthwhile but too little when a play should engage throughout, the meta fiction of Slice of Love, about falling for a sentient toaster, potentially more entertaining.
A Better Memory continues at Green at the Pleasance Courtyard until Sunday 30th August
