Tuesdays with Morrie: Lifelong lessons

Theatre director Breda Cashe says that when she first read the dramatised version of Mitch Albom’s memoir, Tuesdays with Morrie, she thought it “might be a little cheesy and sentimental”. But when the actors read the two-hander, the comedy emerged, even though it’s a true story about dying.

Of course, it’s about more than dying. The play, written by Albom and Jeffrey Hatcher, is a parable for our fast-paced world. It’s an exhortation to slow down, smell the roses and heed WH Auden’s wise observation: “We must love one another or die,” which is quoted by Morrie.

Morrie Schwartz, a 78-year-old sociology professor, who taught at Brandeis University in Massachusetts, is dying from motor neurone disease. His former student, Albom, sees him on television and learns about his illness. Albom is a sports journalist now and hasn’t met Morrie in 16 years, so he travels from Michigan to Massachusetts every Tuesday, for 14 weeks, to see his former mentor.