Post written by Claudette Bryanston
A new play by Alexandra Johnson, produced by STAMP Theatre and Media Productions CIC: INSIDE. The story of Ray a Drag artist and his Coventry Irish Mother who has dementia.
Ray just wants to go out. His mother doesn’t want to stay in. They’re both trapped INSIDE.
Why this play?
In 2023, Alex expressed an interest in receiving mentoring for her idea about creating stories about carers, their experiences of care, specifically unpaid carers at home.
Well over 5 million of us in the UK are unpaid carers; with countless more who don’t see themselves as carers… but are. These ‘hidden carers’ are restricted by their care responsibilities, sometimes unable to work or socialise, because someone needs them at home.
It’s hard to tell a story about what is happening ‘inside ‘a house. This is not a grand tale, it might not seem epic, though we would argue it is. It might seem small but nonetheless it is often heroic and sometimes though rarely, abusive. It is all those things that are about being human. Perhaps the first story of care is the discovery of a 15,000-year-old human thigh bone with a healed fracture. It would take at least six weeks or more for that bone to heal, others would have cared for fed and protected that person. Care is perhaps the first sign of civilisation and the lack of it the opposite.
Inside is about care but it is not entirely heroic, selfless and serene. Far from it, it is often turbulent dramatic and performed by unexpected people.
What is INSIDE about?
The son, a drag artist, had undergone a terrible experience being badly beaten after one of his gigs. He has PTSD and is suffering from agoraphobia. He hasn’t left his house for many years. This suited him well in a perverse way as his mother was succumbing to dementia, probably Alzheimer’s. Their lives were dramatically changing, son, Ray, from being looked after, living at home with his aging mother to reversing roles and becoming her carer. His mother is Coventry Irish, having moved to the city in her youth. It is a story of loss, loss of identity and half-lives, lived at home inside, and inside their heads.
We meet Ray, the son, as this cataclysmic reversal has happened, though it’s legacy shadows their current selves. Into this closed environment several times a day enter professional carers. These carers bring both welcome and unwelcome disruption to their lives. The carers mostly from the African continent as part of the new government scheme. They are from Nigeria and Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, also Zimbabwe and South Africa, over half of British care workers come from other countries where unemployment is high and opportunities for work and education poor. Angel is from Nigeria. He is just one of many strangers coming into their lives and his story is a revelation. Prejudices and assumptions are confounded, by the attitudes of those trapped inside.
The play examines familial and professional care giving exploring the blurred boundaries between duty and love.
What have we done so far?
In 2023 Alexandra Johnson had been awarded funding by the Coventry City of Culture for professional mentoring. She invited Bryanston to be her mentor. An exciting 6 months ensued discussing and exploring the potential of a play about care. We met carers, Alex wrote some script, and we read and researched some of the elements that would make a play. Alex produced a short script for a scratch night at The Pleasance it was clear from the positive outcome that this was an idea that could be worked into production.
We explored the interesting relevance of the son drag artist and how he can satirise the position he is in and comment on society in an accessible and entertaining way. Contemporary drag allows for a broad explorations of gender expression and activism which gives both characters a voice in unexpected ways.
We have learnt from observing good practices in the care community that people with dementia respond particularly well to fun lively drama sessions, singing and vivid costuming. Music, performance and familiar aesthetics can evoke memories and recognition. Ray reaches his mother through his drag persona bringing some laughter and colour into their lives albeit that the moments of engagement are brief. So, what happens when Mother goes missing?
Alex developed some of these ideas in script which Bryanston directed and took to The Pleasance Theatre London scratch night and further explored in a care home with an interactive drama session.
We had a story to be told. The Belgrade Theatre Coventry is keen to support new work which would be of a direct interest to the local community and reflect their stories. They would like to present INSIDE in the B2 space in the autumn of 2025. With the support of the theatre, we will then be able to tour our interactive performance workshops to care and retirement facilities both locally and further afield.
Campbell already knew of Alex’s work co-writing “Theatre of Wandering” for Oi Bokkshi Theatre, (2022) and FAITH for the RSC (2022) as well as her short film about end-of-life care commissioned by Sky Arts for broadcast called ‘Widow’s Might’. This film received 3 Royal Television Society Award nominations. The Belgrade have pledged support in kind with an offer of two weeks rehearsal space and a week in the B2 space with a technician and marketing support in the brochure.
With our anticipated Box Office share from this production, we will be able to tour our interactive performance experiences to local care facilities which include Care Homes and Retirements Facilities. We will reach both carers and residents as carers will attend the performance with the residents thus enabling carers to see and interact with the performance. We have factored in 5 events dependant on the BO receipts.
So why choose STAMP Theatre and Media Productions CIC for this project?
STAMP’S particular remit and USP is to tell untold or rarely heard stories. For example, our project called Hear my Voice tells the stories of 6 Black Caribbean older woman migrants and 6 South Asian older woman migrants. We foregrounded elder women’s stories as older women are invisible. Their stories of endeavour care and protection of their children and communities are remarkable, and we were proud to have recorded this small selection and give those contributors the space needed to tell their stories. All our work has as its centre the stories of those least able to find a voice and Inside chimes perfectly with this ethos.
Further our work is specifically drawn from research and interviews of lived experience, our plays are drawn from verbatim text, Passing On and Cracked which also deals with mental health issues. Alex wanted to explore this methodology further to inform her work. We at STAMP believe that the authenticity of theatre drawn from research interviews resonates deeply with audiences. Cracked and Passing On were drawn from the real voices of lived experience. The human connection of live theatre, the dynamic interaction between actors and audience with authentic verbatim text combines in a unique immersive experience.
STAMP develops research-based theatre, film and performative creative events with digital outputs. We work with academic researchers, to elicit unheard voices, migration stories; stories of those who are vulnerable such as
- Those with genetic conditions: IDNA film.
- Young people experiencing mental health illness and their families: Cracked
The STAMP team are very well placed to produce and support the story of INSIDE. This play is at the heart of our mission to bring stories that are central to our lives yet are rarely told. We are learning more about dementia and the heartache it brings but not so much about the people who care for their loved ones and those who have journeyed halfway across the world to care for them.