End Scene

There were discussions about what the ending of the piece should be, the second half now consisted of 'seasons or married life' followed by Evie's dropping of her books and Alfie's monologue to the duet.
Lee and I had written the dialogue of 'when people ask us' that is firstly spoken at the very beginning, I decided to write it into 'tree lovin' where the younger couple speak it and it's where they first created their 'story' and we thought it would be great for it to appear at the end, with all four of them speaking it.
After the duet between O.Alfie and Y.Evie, it was devised that O.Evie would appear stage right, given a book, and as she opens it, Y.Alfie appears opposite her. She walks towards him, and is able to touch his face which she hasn't been able to do throughout the whole piece. Then then walk centre stage together and O.Alfie and Y.Evie follow.

Old Evie                           Old Alfie
      Young Evie    Young Alfie
Here you see the four of them on stage in a way you haven't before, they have interacted with their younger and older selves, and finally come together as the two generations for the last time.
I split the dialogue up between the four of them, the two boys speaking various lines together like 'Of how I danced' and the girls 'of how WE danced' again to strengthen that great visual that they are the same characters.
It was important that this scene was joyful, a time when the four of them are all content. The previous scene, Alfie gets frustrated that Evie can't remember him, so there needed to be a point where Evie was beginning to remember before the end line 'Thank you Alfie'. It was also reinforcing the message that people suffering with dementia can still remember their past and their loved ones, it's not all doom and gloom, there is happiness even if the situation seems grey.
This scene was set in a simple way, just the four characters talking to the audience, there was no movement, just speaking the dialogue, because for me it's really moving, because the audience have already heard this twice before, but it holds that much more meaning when all four of them are telling their story. Adding movement or use of props wasn't necessary, and could take away the impact it already has.
It ended with the two generations going back to their other halves, and on the line 'that night, we sat underneath the beautiful oak tree' we all move to stage left, where 'tree lovin' is set, the place where they spent their first evening together. Which again is a really beautiful image.
Younger Alfie and Evie then have one last look at their older selves before exiting stage right together, leaving the older couple standing by the tree. The ending librarians speech was written by them, which is reinforcing our underlying message of listening to the elderly, that they do have the most incredible stories, and the audience have witnessed two first hand. Its challenging, and leaves with the message fresh in their minds as they leave. To end, the beginning tea scene is repeated, with Evie remembering how she takes her tea 'two sugars and a splash of milk' before thanking Alfie by name, and the play finishes. That one line of Evie's for us tied up the piece so nicely, she remembered her husband at the very end, and it's not dramatically done, she says it as if she says it everyday, and it ends the play on an encouraging note, not a sad one.