Friday 17 October 2014

First Impressions

Beginning work on any creative project is always equally exciting and daunting. You know there will be challenges and set-backs but these are always somehow overcome. The anxiety before stepping into the first rehearsal and meeting the people you will be working with is always unnerving. This feeling is ten times greater when working on a project like Memoria. There is no script, no actors and no set path.

Over the course of seven weeks we will be working with people affected by dementia, asking them to share their own personal experiences and stories, that are often emotional, both good and bad. Most of these people have not performed in a professional theatre before and this is their first experience of creating a showing from scratch.



Although Re-Live have created many touching and innovative performances working with real life-stories, Memoria poses a whole new challenge. The creative team will be working with two groups of people that will eventually come together for the final public sharing. One group is made up of people who have recently been diagnosed with dementia, the other consists of people who have or did care for a loved one with dementia and even a care home manager.

Although there are many different forms of dementia and each individual is affected differently one of the most common symptoms is short term memory loss. This is clearly going to affect the creative process where members of the group may forget what they have shared or why they are even in the rehearsal at all. As a company Re-Live take issues of consent and capacity very seriously, as it is so important to ensure everyone is happy and comfortable to share their stories and is able to make an informed choice about what to share.



So far I have only met with the group of carers and loved ones. Already this group of inspirational individuals have come together to form a supportive group and everyone is so willing to share their experiences. There have been one or two tears here and there but mostly we have laughed. There are so many funny anecdotes  - some intentionally hilarious, others complete accidents. 

I have already learned so much, some of which I will be sharing via this blog over the next few weeks. To help me learn more I have also signed up to a free online course run by the University of Tasmania – “Understanding Dementia”. I hope this online programme will help me gain some insight into the world of those with a dementia diagnosis and therefore make me more considerate to the needs of people with dementia in our society.



To find out more about this course and perhaps sign up yourself click here.



Here are articles I have written about previous Re-Live projects, click on the links if you would like to read more:

Abandoned Brothers – a touching project with veterans diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and their family members

Age – a group of inspirational and often hilarious older people shared their stories of the past and hopes for the future


Belonging – a more ‘traditional’ theatre show about dementia that is suitable to tour care homes, schools and community venues as well as theatre spaces.

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