A powerful performance about the disappearance of memory provides the finale for The Dukes Creative Adventures in Dementia festival in May.
The Nature of Forgetting visits the Lancaster theatre following a sell-out run at last year’s London International Mime Festival, Latitude, and the Edinburgh Fringe.
The performance, combining mime, theatre and live music, focuses on a man preparing for his 55th birthday party whose tangled threads of disappearing memories spark him into life, unravelling as a tale of friendship, love and guilt.
It was created in collaboration with neuroscientist Professor Kate Jeffery and inspired by interviews and workshops with organisations including the Alzheimer's Society. There will be a post-show talkback.
The Nature of Forgetting takes place on May 19, just after The Dukes two-day celebration of its A Life More Ordinary project for people with dementia.
Creative Adventures in Dementia on May 17 and 18 includes speakers, performances and workshops by artists, practitioners, researchers and others working collaboratively with people with dementia.
Among the speakers will be former Emmerdale star, John Middleton who played a vicar with dementia, and Wendy Mitchell, author of Somebody I Used To Know, the first memoir written by someone living with dementia, now a Sunday Times best-seller.
The festival is open to people living with dementia, family, friends, health and care professionals, artists, researchers and clinical commissioning teams.
A photographic exhibition reflecting on three years of A Life More Ordinary at The Dukes and at some of the 15 venues it has been rolled out to nationwide runs at the theatre’s gallery until May 19.