Guillaume Pigé On The Nature Of Forgetting – A Play That Explores Dementia Through Mime

A man prepares for his 55th birthday, but as he gets dressed he is confronted by fragments of memory. Now in its 10th year, The Nature of Forgetting is a powerful play that tackles the impact of neurological disorders. Guillaume Pigé is the artistic director of Theatre Re, an internationally renowned touring mime company, and stars as Tom, who is experiencing early onset dementia.

Running from 8 October 2026 to 4 March 2027, this production marks not just the show’s 10th anniversary but also 15 years of Theatre Re. It’s tender, physical and wordless, a play about what is left when memory is gone.

The Nature of Forgetting, Hackney Empire: What To Expect

In this edition of Stage Notes, Guillaume Pigé guides us through the production.

What’s The Plot?

Tom, who is living with early onset dementia, is preparing for his 55th birthday. ‘And as he tries to get dressed, the feel of the clothes on the rack brings back fragments of his past,’ explains Guillaume. ‘Memories begin to unfold, overlap and interrupt each other, revealing the relationships and memories that have shaped him, even as his ability to hold onto them becomes increasingly fragile.’

The play first premiered in 2017 at Shoreditch Town Hall and as part of the London International Mime Festival. But its development began two years before that, through an R&D process that involved neuroscientist Professor Kate Jeffery and extensive interviews with those living with dementia and their carers, through the Alzheimer’s Society. ‘Those encounters helped us connect the science with real human experiences,’ explains Guillaume.

This is its 10th anniversary season (Theatre Re will tour the show into 2027) and marks the culmination of years of work, including 200 performances over 17 countries. A Korean company, notes Guillaume, has also recreated the show. ‘[The play] is very much becoming an old friend,’ he says, ‘but it continues to surprise me. It’s helped that we have had new performers who bring new impulses, and new audiences who reveal things we may not have noticed before.’

He believes the story remains relevant even after so long. ‘The play is about what’s left when memory is gone,’ he says, ‘a celebration of friendship, love, and the fragility of life. Dementia is our starting point but the piece opens up questions that concern all of us: what remains of our relationships when we can no longer recall them? And do we really realise life while we are living it?’

The Cast And Creatives

Guillaume plays Tom who, he explains, ‘is not based on one individual’, but rather the product of lots of research. But he wasn’t the original Tom. ‘When we first devised the show, we were working with actor Andres Velasquez,’ he says, ‘but he was unavailable for the first tour, so I took over once the show was nearly finished. Tom is the product of both of us and is a more rounded character as a consequence.’

He is also the show’s director. Alex Judd composed the play’s score, and Katherine Graham its lighting. ‘It’s very much a team effort,’ explains Guillaume, ‘we’ve explored and refined it through ten years of touring, and every new collaborator has brought fresh ideas and challenges – and new life – into the piece.’

Photography by Ellie Kurttz

There is a strong ensemble in the story, which is important as there is a strong element of movement across the piece. ‘An impulse from one person becomes a response from another,’ he says, ‘a lot of our work emerged from a shared process.’

Costumes were the work of Malik Ibheis. ‘They also have a very practical role,’ he says, ‘as the performers move with considerable speed and physical intensity, so the clothes need to support that. And getting dressed is part of the opening action, which makes the costuming a meaningful element of the story.’

The Style Of Theatre

The piece is heavily rooted in mime. ‘My practice is specifically rooted in Étienne Decroux’s Corporeal Mime,’ explains Guillaume, ‘which provides a precise way of working with the body, space, rhythm and weight – making thought and feeling tangible, through movement.’ This is important, he explains, to convey the way neurological conditions create altered experiences of living. ‘A familiar action can become interrupted, repeated or altered, and suddenly we can, as the audience, experience something of his struggle, without the need to explain it with words.’

‘I think of mime as making the portrait of something with something else,’ he says, ‘to create physical metaphors that invite the audience’s imagination into the work.’

Photography by Ellie Kurttz

And it’s not all ‘a white face, striped clothing and someone trapped inside an invisible box,’ he says. ‘That is one expression of it! But the possibilities are wider. Mime turns the infinitely small – a look or gesture – into something larger.’

The Venues

Alongside London’s Hackney Empire, The Nature of Forgetting will visit Jersey Opera House, Curve in Leicester and BEAM in Hertford this autumn, followed by Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch, Leeds Playhouse and Storyhouse in Chester in Spring 2027. There are select dates across Chinese venues towards the end of this year.

‘Returning to the Hackney Empire feels particularly significant on this tour. We are celebrating both the life of this production and 15 years of Theatre Re, so it is a lovely opportunity to gather audiences, friends and collaborators around the work,’ he says. ‘It is also an opportunity to bring the piece back to London on a larger scale.’

The Takeaway

Will audiences feel moved when they leave the theatre? Quite possibly, but Guillaume hopes they also feel warmth, too. ‘The question that started the work – what is left when memory is gone? – is still at its heart,’ he says. ‘I hope The Nature of Forgetting also encourages us to pay attention to the people around us and to moments that can seem ordinary while we are living them. Life is fragile. There is something precious in taking the time to realise it as it happens.’

Tickets

The Nature of Forgetting is now touring the UK.

• Hackney Empire, London (Oct 8), tickets here
• Jersey Opera House (Oct 13-15), tickets here
• Leicester Curve (Nov 9-10), tickets here
• Hertford Beam (Nov 11-12), tickets here
• Hornchurch (Feb 11-12 2027), tickets here
• Leeds Playhouse (Feb 24-25 2027), tickets on sale soon
• The Storyhouse Chester (Mar 3-4 2027), tickets here