I have lost myself is a play that resists definition. It isn’t Shakespearean. It isn’t a Greek tragedy.  It’s far from an adaptation of a well-known Broadway play turned cult movie. In fact, for the two hours that I sat in on rehearsals, there wasn’t much dialogue at all. So just what is this play about?

At its heart, I have lost myself is about Alzheimer’s disease, and the early onset kind at that. A disease hugely under-represented in mainstream media, it’s widely misunderstood by the public and barely understood by the scientific community. Because of the peculiar nature of the disease, patients suffer from loss of brain functions like memory, followed by the loss of speech and, eventually, every facet of their personality.

Using techniques of physical theatre, director Jonathan Ben-Shaul and producer Phoebe Bright have explored the anguish and the inner workings of the mind of Augustus Deter, the first person to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and the woman whose self-observation forms the title of the play.

The play has been developed collaboratively under Jonathan’s leadership, beginning with only the basic structure of each scene. As a result, a lot of the action in comes from movement rather than dialogue. Indeed, when I walked into the rehearsal, I was greeted with the sight of a scrawny guy in a white T-shirt being pushed around the stage. I was pleased to learn that this was indeed part of the play and not blatant bullying: a sequence carried out by the chorus, played by Anastasia Raymond, Uma Ramachandran, Stephanie Ashenden and Oliver Jones. In fact, Oliver, who has previous experience with physical theatre the National Youth Theatre and Frantic Assembly, may have even played a part in choreographing his own pushing around.

Because of the lack of a script, a lot of what happens in the play has been developed through feedback from the actors on stage. In some ways, I have lost myself is more like improv than the traditional, rigidly-scripted structure of a play. Towards the end of the rehearsal, Anastasia, Uma and Stephanie, along with the choreographer Sian O’Brien, were hard at work rewriting parts of the next scene. When they say their play is a group effort, they mean it.

Mauritz Spenke, who will play the lead Augustus, has a powerful performance in store for the audience. One can only imagine how the impact of his performance will be amplified when the Corpus Playroom becomes his cosy little bedroom – and we’re invited in to join him. If you’re looking for something different, refreshing and insightful, I highly recommend watching I have lost myself. I know I will.

I have lost myself is on from Monday 7th to Wednesday 9th November at the Corpus Playroom.