IJack Stevenson of Vamos Young People's Theatre (2nd right) shares the joys, and the challenges, of the group's latest project

n the early evening of Monday 1st July 2013, I squatted uncomfortably behind a small red screen and silently sung along to Good Morning, an uplifting song from the iconic fifties movie Singin’ in the Rain. Meanwhile a suited and booted pig, perched precariously on the top of my hand, enthusiastically belted out the lyrics to this cheery ditty before launching into a co-ordinated dance-routine with his pig friends. This did not happen because I’d suffered a mental breakdown, or had taken hallucinogenic drugs, but because I’m a proud member of Vamos Young People’s Theatre, and that’s how we roll. The singing pigs were a part of Sharing Joy: VYPT, an attempt to chronicle the life and times of a war-time nurse, appropriately named Joy, and share her story with care-home residents and elders’ groups across the West Midlands area.

I’ve had numerous weird and wonderful experiences during my years with Vamos, but this ranks as the weirdest, wonderful-est, and the most rewarding. We’ve been working hard in the basement of the Worcester Arts Workshop for nearly half a year to put it together, turning a loose collection of half-formed ideas into an engaging, entertaining and nostalgic experience tailored specifically for our target audience. This has been challenging, since, for example, the audience in Stourport was comprised of those whose minds have been scattered by dementia. Attempting to connect with them was, for me at least, an intimidating prospect, but even while stumbling my way through awkward introductions to the audience, I knew that this was going to be an amazing experience.

It’s an awesome feeling to know that you’re making someone’s day, let alone an entire room of people, but that’s the feeling I got while performing Sharing Joy. It was impossible not to smile when watching Joy at work as a nurse prompted people to reminisce over their own days working in a hospital, or to hear clapping as our fifties dancers strutted their stuff on the dancefloor/spare patch of carpet, or to watch a 101 year old lady, who had previously responded to my attempts to talk to her with confusion and apprehension, take a trademark Vamos/Strangeface mask from me and hug it to her face. (I assumed that sort of thing only happened in sickly sweet movies with inspiring music in the background.) It was such a perfectly uplifting, life-affirming experience.

From here, we’re off to a care-home in Leominster, and then to one in Bromsgrove, and it’s going to be awesome. Monday is now my favourite day of the week, and if that isn’t a testament to how much fun it is to share joy with Sharing Joy, I don’t know what is.

Jack Stevenson
Vamos Young Peoples’ Theatre