I recently wrote about dementia and my relationship with it as a central part of my performance. I have begun writing the script, exploring stand-up as a method of performance – the basis of this would be to talk about my life from an autobiographical standpoint, talking about my family and my relationship with my Granddad. As the performance would go on, I would become more and more disillusioned with reality, gradually forgetting more and more of the play as it begins to focus more and more on my Granddad’s dementia. This would create a stark contrast of humour and the harrowing illness of dementia. I have also decided on the kind of set that I’d like to use for the show – I have chosen my performance space to reflect the intimacy of this as a domestic issue – it affects people in their homes and where their lives are. I want my space to feel intimate so it reflects the personal nature of this issue, and how personal it is to me. I will experiment with the stand-up style and see how it feels to perform.

I also decided to research into methods of treatments for people with dementia and found a video my Mum showed me of a man reacting to something called “Music Therapy”. Upon some minor research, I learned that the thinking behind it was that you could use music from the youth of the patient to bring them back from near-catatonic states. In the video I watched, the example used was Henry, who reminded me quite a lot of my Granddad. His story was very touching, and I’d like to have some focus on the video, and on the research behind music therapy. I will endeavour to add reference and perhaps add it to the show if I can.

YouTube. (2017). (original) Man In Nursing Home Reacts To Hearing Music From His Era. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyZQf0p73QM&ab_channel=Music%26Memory [Accessed 23 Apr. 2017].

YouTube. (2017). Oliver Sacks – Musicophilia – Alzheimer’s/The Power of Music. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdYplKQ4JBc&ab_channel=knopfgroup [Accessed 23 Apr. 2017].