Demented grandmother's fantasy life has become an opera prototype creator: often "saw" people threatening her

"There are four people behind the door stealing my money!" Grandma yelled.

"Where are the people?" the male grandson asked.

"They jumped out of the window and walked out in the sun!" Grandma replied angrily.

"Four jumping windows? How about twenty floors?"

Elders suffering from dementia and depression have turned false victimhood and fantasies into reality, and repeatedly tormented themselves and their families. Hong Kong composer Yip Ho-kun recalls the time spent with his grandmother who suffered from dementia in his later years, as if he was with a relative who had lost his soul. They looked at each other and were very close, but they seemed to be standing on the other side and couldn't see each other. The moment before the grandmother's death, when the light reflected and recognized everyone, the family was relieved.

He created with the details of the life of his mother-in-law and grandson, and turned his memories into songs.

"Accompanying an elderly person with dementia is very hard work, but after thinking about it, everyone will be like this. At this moment, we should cherish the time we spend with the business people in the house normally."

Sometimes angry, sometimes dumbfounded, the elegy of the elderly with dementia

All the lyrics of the musical "Mother-in-law", which tells the story of an elderly person with dementia, were composed by local composer Ye Haokun (Austin). Two of the songs, "Requiem" and "I Remember", were Austin's grandmother's funeral. Sing it out yourself.

"I thought so pure at the time, I just wanted to record the story I remembered my mother-in-law, write it back with my thoughts, and then sing it back to my relatives and friends to listen to it. I didn't think it would turn into a musical or even a movie."

The prototype of the grandmother's role in the play is the grandmother from Austin's memory. She has a majesty and requires a decent job. She has watched him grow up, graduated from college, and even married and lived together. An elf old man turns into a suspicious elder.

"During the period of 2016-17, when he was sick, he told me that there was a lot of money in the cardboard box, and he clearly mentioned that the other party used a machine in the Hung To Road Industrial Building in Kwun Tong to shoot it away in the sky. There is all the money in the box, but I live in Laguna City, and I remember all the hysterics, as if someone punched you twice in the face, but pretending to have not beaten you, and then tell everyone about it I passed you, so you have to stay with him and appease him."

After the grandmother was confirmed to be ill, the family took her to see a doctor and received a prescription for psychotropic drugs. However, the effect of the drugs made the grandmother stand on the spot like a "crash" for a long time, and she could no longer communicate with her on a question and answer basis.

"Sit with him for dinner and sit across from him, you ask him, he will stare at you for more than ten minutes, it feels so strange, you know him, but he doesn't know you, and you know he knows you, He also won't have any reaction, and it's the same expression over and over again as an adult."

Sitting with him for dinner and sitting opposite him, you ask him, he will stare at you for more than ten minutes, it feels so strange, you know him, but he doesn't know you, and you know he knows you, he There won't be any reaction either, it's the same expression over and over again as an adult.

Composer Ye Haokun

Before my grandmother died, I was able to recognize the relatives and friends present at the last moment

When grandma began to forget the appearance and names of all her relatives one by one, the only thing that made her care was the dignity that was deeply rooted in her mind.

In her later years, she had limited mobility and poor walking, but even when she was ill, she insisted not to use a wheelchair or crutches. She would only go out with an umbrella. When moving around the house, she asked two helpers to help her walk from the bedroom to the hall for meals. , I would rather not go out than be seen by others," he said that he used to be a big daughter in Macau, and he would go to VIP casinos with his father. Let's do it, go to a rich man's house to cook."

It is difficult for the elderly with advanced dementia to express in words. They can only express their liking or not by waving their hands or pushing away. By the end of November 2019, Ye Haokun won the Medallion Art Village Prize and went on a plane to Newham West, USA Before working in the village, I visited my grandmother who lived in her mother's house for a long time. She was silent in a wheelchair due to her physical weakness, but suddenly she started a long-forgotten dialogue with Austin.

"What are you doing so you can't touch me? It's so good, you don't touch me all day!" Later, when he went to the United States to stay in the village, the first snow of winter happened, and he soon received a notification from his grandmother that he was critically ill. The final farewell was made through the video chat on the mobile phone, and all the memories entered his mind like a film, which also prompted him to compose all the Cantonese songs in this musical.

Hope opera expresses love to the public in time

There are a lot of lyrics in the play that are like sleepwalking, repeating and falling into serious doubt, just to reflect the elderly with Zheimer's disease or dementia, always claiming to be threatened by others, and shouting at those who meet her, "He will harass you and beat you. If you seriously think about him, he may not know what he is doing. If we make trouble and turn his back on him, it will be even more uncomfortable. We have to tolerate or endure him." Austin hopes that through this musical Call for love to be timely.

"Accompanying an elderly person with dementia is very hard, but after thinking about it, everyone will be like this. At this moment, we should cherish the time we spend with the people in the house normally."

The original Cantonese chamber opera "Mother-in-law" is organized by the Hong Kong Arts Festival and the Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust, commissioned and produced by "Infinite Brightness". Participating artists include five members of the Children's Choir of Xinguang School, visually impaired pianist Li Sheng and The visually impaired violinist Ding Yijie was originally scheduled to perform in the theater in the form of a musical, but due to the restrictions of the epidemic, it was later presented as a film, which will be broadcast online from September 16. Interested parties can visit the official website to learn more.

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