Abandoned Brothers

Thanks so much to everyone who came to see Abandoned Brothers last month at Chapter. It has been a rollercoaster of a journey. We have been humbled by the determination and strength of the veterans and family members we met along the way. The stories in the final performance were just a fraction of what we have heard over the past three months. We have listened, laughed, cried, at times wondered where it was all going, but what drove this project on was the insistence of our group that theirs is a story which needs to be told. The moment of hearing those stories shared with an audience was really something. Our group didn't want to take a bow at the end, but they stood there on the stage and had standing ovations 2 nights running. After so many dark nights of feeling alone with their pain and thinking that society didn't care, here was a crowd of strangers applauding them on their feet and baring witness to their stories.

We're all now pretty exhausted but also excited by the response to the show. Here is a review written by a Young Critic, National Theatre Wales Community:

http://community.nationaltheatrewales.org/profiles/blogs/young-critic-s-response-re-live-abandoned-brother

Life Story Training

This autumn, we are launching our Life Story Training with support from the Arts Council of Wales and The Baring Foundation. Life Story work is an exciting and creative way of working which celebrates the person and their unique life story. Our training courses will show people how to implement life story work in hospitals, care homes, prisons, veterans’ support groups, hospices, community arts settings and theatres. We are excited about sharing some of our discoveries from the last 6 years, and hope to have a real mix of artists, medical staff, social workers and curious people who are interested in stories taking part…
 

A week to go till Abandoned Brothers opens at Chapter

We've got a week to go till Abandoned Brothers opens at Chapter. At the moment it feels about as scary as theatre can get. We're creating documentary theatre. There is no safety barrier of fiction. This is real-life and the emotions our performers are going through are raw and painful. Today one of our performers re-enacted the moment he pleaded with a psychiatrist to help him as he was scared of going home and what he might do. These men are haunted by post-traumatic stress disorder, haunted by the images and sounds and smells of war. And their wives and children and aunties and mothers are picking up the pieces. "He dies in my arms every night" one woman said to us this week of her husband who still has nightmares of fighting in Northern Ireland 30 years on. We have men onstage who are suffering from PTSD  one of the symptoms of which is memory loss(!), we also have women  onstage telling what it's like for them, we have high levels of emotion, we have no script as people are telling their own lives, we have a live musician, a film-maker, an audience...

Training in Life Story Work 2012 Programme Launch

We are launching our 2012 training programme this month. Supported by the Arts Council of Wales and The Baring Foundation, this training programme enables us to draw together the learning of our work over the past 6 years. From care homes in Cardiff to theatres in Dublin to older people’s projects in Japan, all the participants and staff members we have worked with have inspired us and taught us a great deal. We are delighted to have the opportunity to share our discoveries and pass on our skills in Life Story work to others who want to work in this exciting and emerging field.

Hearing the experiences of veterans in Wales

We are in the research stage of a brand new project which seeks to explore the experience of war and the impact it has on the lives of those who go through it. We feel there is an urgency to capture the stories of men and women who experienced World War Two, as in the near future there will be no-one left to pass on these experiences first-hand. We also want to hear the experiences of younger veterans who have fought in other conflicts, and perhaps create a dialogue between men and women of different generations who have been to war. Bringing the personal stories of veterans to the stage will be the first of its kind in Wales. A live theatre show could be a powerful and creative way for them to share their diverse first-hand accounts of war time with an audience. If you or someone you know is a veteran who is interested in sharing their story, please drop us an email.