“It made me laugh, it made me cry. What more could you want?”
In the Light of Day was conceived as a research and development project for people living with dementia in care home settings and theatres, during the first Covid-19 lockdown in 2020. The project focused on hands, gloves and gestures and told a simple and universal story of love, longing, household chores and the wish for connection. Using live music, movement and very few words, it focused on emotional memory and engagement. Funny and entertaining, it gently invited the audience to participate or to simply sit back and watch.
In the Light of Day was my second collaborative performance project, specifically for people living with dementia, their families and carers. It followed the success of the acclaimed Curious Shoes, which toured widely across Scotland in 2019. It used a mix of structured scenes and invitations to engage, with room for improvisation and participation. In the Light of Day concentrated on emotional memory and engagement, using very few words with no obvious pressure to follow a storyline. It gently invited our audiences to participate on their own terms or to simply sit back and watch.
The initial artistic material was developed during a 9-month R&D process between October 2020 and July 2021, with creative collaborators Nicolette Macleod, Tim Licata and Cai Tomos under my direction.
During this period, we set out to devise new, highly adaptable artistic material within a very flexible concept, allowing for ‘scaling’ and delivery in a variety of settings (indoors and outdoors), from a variety of distances, in an aim to respond to any level of restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Collaborating, online, during lockdown, also led to the creation of a number of videos, showcasing hands and gloves, to potentially accompany future In the Light of Day live performances. To explore the suitability of this approach for our audiences, we tested this series of films, which had been recorded on Zoom in December 2020, by communicating & sharing them with care staff across Scotland and Canada, via an online portal. The films were intended as focal points to stimulate conversation and encourage engagement between people living with dementia, their family members and professional carers. We provided instructions and questions, which in turn gave us invaluable feedback, about what film content worked and what did not.
The initial R&D of In the Light of Day culminated in two live work-in-progress outdoors performances at Festival Theatre and The Elms care home, both in Edinburgh in July 2021.
“Expert clowning, beautiful imagery and a king-sized bundle of warmth.”
In Spring 2022, we developed In the Light of Day into a full production and toured it widely to care homes, day centres, community and meeting centres as well as hospitals & health care centres across Scotland. In addition, we showcased our work at Capital Theatres Edinburgh and Macrobert Arts Centre in Stirling. Both venues generously supported the project, as did Our Connected Neighbourhoods in Stirling.
“It was flawless. I would love to see it again. To see all the things I have missed the first time around.”
Drawing on my experience with audiences with dementia, I focused this project on simplicity, clarity, rhythm & repetition as key ingredients of successful engagement. We added live music, strong images and humour into the mix, which not only made the piece more enjoyable, but also helped to hold the attention of and evoke responses from our audiences. Our costume and set design was drawn from a particular colour palette, using contrast and tonalities, widely recognised to be easily visible by the ageing eye. The live music, composed by Nicolette Macleod,
Creative collaborators for the full production included performers Emma Lynne Harley, Lisette Boxman and Tim Licata as well as set designer and videographer Brian Hartley and costume designer Ali Maclaurin The project was expertly supported by producer Gemma Greig-Kicks.
As hoped, In the Light of Day became a starting point and tool for re-connecting with care homes and their residents, as well as families, all of whom experienced isolation during the Covid-19 pandemic. We responded to feedback from care staff about responses by people living with dementia to film material created during our initial R&D phase and adapted existing material in response to these insights. We created suitable visual materials for staff or families to use as the basis of additional activities, providing engagement and stimulation alongside the performance. This included postcards of ‘glove characters’, which were sent to care homes prior to In the Light of Day performances, together with a letter and a brief on how to best use the postcards. In addition, we created six ‘Glove Stories’ films, which could be watched via DVD or USB sticks, which were delivered in advance of the performance.
According to our audiences In the Light of Day provided a very positive shared experience. Due to the great care we took to create a safe environment for all involved, the performances increased the confidence of our audiences, as well as care home staff and management, to allow live performance into the care home setting for the first time since the upheaval of the pandemic, or indeed for a first time.
“This is the first time we have had live theatre within the Home so we really weren’t sure how the residents would respond but we needn’t have worried as they were captivated by the performance! The whole experience from start to finish was supremely resident-friendly, engaging and very welcoming. The actors really connected with the residents and encouraged them into the performance. They welcomed all kinds of interactions from the audience and they responded in such a lovely way that it made the residents feel involved and part of something really special. The story was just lovely and because it was all non-verbal, told through expressions, movement and music, residents were pulled into the story and they were able to really connect with it. It was just a wonderful experience and we cannot thank you enough for bringing ‘In the Light of Day’ to our Care Home.”
Overall, we were delighted to deliver 17 performances for audiences living with dementia in 13 locations across 7 geographical areas in Scotland.
