Alzheimer’s disease can give the first signs ten years ago before the most serious symptoms appear. A crucial moment to prepare to face what is to come, but above all to delay its arrival as much as possible. disease for which there is currently no cure. It is precisely to raise awareness of the importance of this early diagnosis that the Alzheimer Foundation of Spain and the theater have joined forces to organize this event. “An unforgettable afternoon”which will take place this Friday in Valladolid.
At the tables of Zorrilla Theater from the capital of Pisuerga, the actresses Mónica Bardem and Carmen Ibeas, also co-producer of “These bread crumbs”, the work of Jennifer Haley which is now translated and performed for the first time in Spain.
Ninety minutes of “bright”, “supportive” and “hopeful” story between a middle-aged successful writer and a young nurse who immerse themselves in the “Difficult tunnel to navigate the path to Alzheimer’s disease”explained another of the producers, Nico Verona, during the presentation press conference.
It is about a “solidarity” functionwhose profits will be entirely donated to the Alzheimer Foundation Spain, and which began its tour at the Teatro Anaya in Madrid last September. Since then it has passed through Zaragoza, Aranda de Duero (Burgos) and Ciudad Rodrigo (Salamanca) and now stops in Valladolid, where, as in the rest of the destinations, there will be a subsequent discussion with artistic stakeholders and with representatives of the Foundation.
“We saw that the public was coming out with doubts and questions and the format worked perfectly,” emphasized Verona. They thus contribute to one of the objectives that the Foundation has set for itself over the last two years: early diagnosis. “It’s basic,” said technical director Esther Arnanz, because sometimes “Only part is known” symptoms, such as “no memory”. “The sooner you know, the sooner you can act,” he detailed.
In this sense, he explained that short-term memory loss, temporal and spatial disorientation and behavioral changes, such as apathy in active people, can be warning signs. “Without causing excessive alarm, we must monitor it,” he explained, before emphasizing that there are “a lot” of diagnoses among young people compared to years ago and that “there are still much to do” regarding the “stigma” of an illness, in which there is a tendency to “isolate” the affected person, when the “socialization” This is one of the treatments.
The steps
For Monica Bardem This role was a “gift” with a “complex, beautiful character, full of doubts and with a brutal mazethe one who helps him “transit” his caregiver. With her, he establishes a relationship of “friendship and support”, although they are two completely different and “equally lost” people. “Being a theatrical and non-scientific fact, the work clearly passes through the different phases of Alzheimer’s disease», underlines Bardem.
Carmen Ibeas, the other protagonist of the story, assured that the work, promoted during the pandemic and which initially did not have this objective, seeks to be a link between union “between culture and social health”, with a “very nice” experience like the discussions that followed. “The spectator leaves, after having laughed and cried, and it helps him open up“, he indicated.
Both admitted to having discovered the disease over time: “It’s a round trip and not linear”explains Bardem, while Ibeas focused on “behavioral changes” in those affected, beyond memory loss.
