To tie in with Dementia Awareness Week, we’re launching our upcoming tour of Sharing Joy, a theatre show made especially for people living with dementia.
Set in the 1940s and 1950s, the performance is a celebration of life and all its joys, using music, dance, nostalgia, masks, puppetry and laughter to bring pleasure and meaning to everyone involved.
We created Sharing Joy in 2014 as part of our growing body of work relating to dementia. With the help of a major Arts Council England funding award, we were able to include the show in a wider-ranging Strategic Touring Project, raising awareness about the positive impact the arts can have on dementia care.
Now in its fourth year of touring, Sharing Joy is a playful and joyous show that emphasises the importance of making honest connections, and encourages everyone to take part and to express themselves. We’ve had hugely positive feedback from both residents and care staff, including Faye, who lives with dementia, who told us, “I love the music, getting out of the room, out of the ordinary. Just fantastic.”
We’re delighted to have four new cast members joining us. Alejandra Bacelar Pereira, Nik Howden, Douglas Rutter and Lotte Tickner will take the show to care homes and theatre venues in June and July.
Strategic Touring also helped us make connections with theatre venue partners, who committed to making it easier for people living with dementia and their carers to visit the theatre, helping to combat the social isolation that is so common. Venues hosting the show include the Royal Shakespeare Company, mac birmingham, The Corn Exchange Newbury, The Courtyard Hereford, Assembly Rooms Ludlow, Artrix Bromsgrove, Little Sheringham Theatre, and Arena Wolverhampton.
Sharing Joy tours from June 16th 2018. Many of the performances are open to the public – you can see the full tour list here.