Solent Mind and Theatre for Life awarded over £70,000 to fund theatre project raising dementia awareness

Solent Mind and Theatre for Life have been connecting young people aged 14-25 years with older people who have dementia, at Remind dementia services in Portsmouth.

The Remind team deliver advice and support to dementia patients and their carers across the Portsmouth area.

Through weekly creative activities, the groups shared experiences to gain an insight into each other’s lives, helping to improve health, wellbeing and social isolation.

Young theatre makers created an original piece of drama to celebrate life stories, while raising awareness around dementia.

Solent Mind and Theatre for Life, who work with young theatre makers to create theatre projects which support the community, were awarded £74,729 in funding from The National Lottery Community Fund to carry out the project.

The collaborative project – Roots and Branches – has supported 23 older people with early onset to moderate dementia as well as young people with mental health needs.

Roots and Branches celebrates real life stories across 70 years which have been shared by our dementia groups and retold by the Theatre for Life youth theatre company.

The project was designed to promote cognitive stimulation, with the end result performed in Portsmouth and Southampton.

The final performances will be shared with audiences on August 26 and 27 at the Ashcroft Arts Centre, in Fareham.

Troy Chessman was the writer for the project, and joined the groups at every intergenerational session to collate stories from group members.

He said: ‘Roots and branches, is this beautiful tapestry of colourful and iridescent memories, woven together using the shared memories and life experiences of our dementia participants.

‘It’s not conventional theatre, it’s storytelling in its purest form, reminiscing, recreating and reliving cherished memories from yesteryear, that defined a generation.’

Recorded audio captured during interviews with the dementia groups has been told word for word and delicately weaved into the production to raise awareness about what it’s like to live with dementia.

One Southampton audience member at MAST Mayflower Theatre said: ‘The way these people’s stories were told was impactful and insightful, whilst remaining upbeat and celebratory.’

Another added: ‘Very inspirational and thought-provoking, most importantly it helped me to understand my Dad’s dementia.’

To buy tickets visit ashcroft.org.uk/event/theatre-life-presents-roots-and-branches.