The autobiographical shows "The Waiting Room" (by John Mann and Morris Panych), and "Sonic Elder" (by Vancouver's The Chop Theatre), both featured performers with dementia or marked age-related memory loss who performed rock music live on stage. These professional Canadian productions used a dramaturgical approach…

A reflection on the process that led to the development of dementia friendly theatre performances at Leeds Playhouse (formerly West Yorkshire Playhouse) including the vital involvement of people living with dementia as creative consultants. This article outlines the inspiration behind such performances, the steps required to make the necessary…

This paper reports on a mixed methods project entitled "Playful Engagement" aimed at improving the quality of life (QoL) of individuals living with dementia through engagement with two relational clowns. Analysis of the quantitative data was unable to identify QoL improvements, whilst the qualitative data revealed positive affective…

This short essay uses James Thompson's aesthetics of care to examine 'Memory in Two Voices', a multi-vocal poetry performance about dementia by long-time lesbian partners Chris Morrissey and Bridget Coll. Noting how Chris and Bridget's years-long tenure in the Queer Imaging and Riting Kollective for Elders, an arts and performance group based in…

'Dis-identifications from dominant models of subject-formation can be productive and creative' (Braidotti 2013, 167). This problematises applied theatre practices informed by received understandings of dementia, and their implications for memory and identity. "Forgotten Futures"(2017) and "Never-Ending Story" (2016-ongoing)…

Walking by those living with dementia is often pathologically labelled 'wandering', an act lacking a clear purpose or destination. Walking in this context is not widely understood or valued, except as physical exercise. Drawing on walking performances by other artists and the author's own arts-based research, during which she walked outdoors and…

Through this paper, I consider how we might be aesthetically and relationally accountable in creating research-informed theatre through the conceptual frame of an aesthetic of relationality, and in-depth considerations of the theoretical notions embodiment, imagination and foolishness (as vulnerability-bravery). Through the example of…

This article considers how intergenerational arts can help support the resilience of people living with dementia. Theorising a moment of process from Magic Me's "Reflections of Stepney," it analyses how art facilitators help a child and care home resident to overcome the challenge of relating and create a performance together. It…

This article considers two examples of life story performance: the first autobiographical work about the author's recovery from stroke, and the second the life-story production Re-Live Theatre's "Memoria" about dementia. It explores how performing life stories facilitates connection between performers with transformed cognitive…

"Dementia's Journey" explores the year-long process of a playwright working with a charity and its partners in writing a play focussing on experiences of dementia in a South Asian community, and how the need to tell an emotionally engaging and resonant story is balanced with the requirement to raise awareness of the issues involved. It…

This article explores the practices of three young artist/facilitators, illustrating how they use their own age identity to develop expertise in working with older people in residential care homes. A research process of reflective dialogues reveals that they respond to the arts and drama-based workshop practices at creative ageing organisation…

The argument explored in this paper is that a "system" approach to care can have a potentially detrimental effect on, what is assumed here to be, the most important aspect of providing care and that is the relationship between the person that provides care and the person with dementia who is in receipt of care. A contrast between the…

This article interrogates access through the lens of public autobiographical performances by people living with dementia who, not generally construed as subjects in Western cultures, rarely appear on public stages. This scarcity underscores a strong connection between access and subjectivity, as well as between access, political distributions of…

There is a recognised need for research that illuminates mutually beneficial connections among performance, ageing, disability theory, and praxis. One such project is the Memory Ensemble™, an improvisational theatre intervention for persons with early stage Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD). This case study explores how the…

This paper considers some of the spatial challenges of doing arts projects with older people in care homes, including those living with dementia. It reflects on the author's own experience of running a performance project with residents with at a care home in North London. Drawing on Lefebvre's concept of socially produced space, it argues that…