The FATHER by French Playwright Florian Zeller on Stage in the West End

Zorian Zeller (b. Paris 1979) is a brilliant young playwright.  His encompassing grasp of dementia and the painful pratfuls of caring for a parent no longer able to fend for themselve, explores and evokes the confusion and complexities with piercing clarity.  Anne is a caring & loving daughter to her aged father, Andre.  Andre's weakening facilities & increasing foibles are making life Hell for both father & daughter.  Grappling with solutions to an ever worsening situation is exasperating and confining.  The clever, sparse staging of an aptmt. is laden with ambiguities as to whose aptmt. it is and who is the actual daughter, her love interest & caretaker.  We not only empathize with the pangs of senility we become emeshed in the experiences.  And, how much is a child obligated to forfeit from their life to care for an ailing parent?  The blackouts with dissonant loud music (soothing when played as originally written) make for jarring & intentionally confusing lapses.  The sets are slightly altered each time.  There is a componding befuddlement of place & characters which  excelerates the sense of losing one's grasp of reality.  The actors are all convincing in their roles which makes the issues of elderly abuse and familial responsibility odious & discomforting.  This is not a happy, feel good play. The FATHER is a meaningful and serious consideration of what we all will confront; sooner than we expect.