A free preview performance of The Last Siren, is coming to the University of West London (UWL) and bringing dementia friendly opera to Ealing.
The production is free for dementia sufferers and their carers and has been organised by The Geller Institute of Ageing and Memory (GIAM), London College of Music (LCM) and The Music Troupe.
The Last Siren will take place on August 30 2023 at Lawrence Hall at UWL ahead of its world premiere at the Tete-a-tete festival on August 31 2023.
Tickets can be reserved by clicking here.
The contemporary opera takes a fresh look at the Greek myth from Homer’s Odyssey with music by Edward Lambert, libretto by Norman Welch and directed by Jenny Weston.
Dr Andy Northcott, senior lecturer in Sociology of Medicine at the Geller Institute of Ageing and Memory (GIAM) at the University of West London said: “Dementia Friendly Opera aims to give people living with dementia and their loved ones an opportunity to enjoy new experiences and engage with their community and the arts in a safe yet authentic environment.”
In 2017, Dr Northcott and Professor Katie Feathertsone, director of GIAM pioneered dementia-friendly cinema which is now available across the country.
Edward Lambert added: “Talk about opera usually concerns a small body of work by composers of the past; I wanted to show how the repertory can be renewed with contemporary works that are economic to produce and practical to move around.”
According to the organisers, the auditorium for the performance will be set out to minimise fall risks and the audience will be permitted to move around, speak and leave, removing the usual social stigma associated with interrupting a performance.
There will also be quiet areas for those who may not enjoy the performance or cannot sit through the whole production and volunteers will also be on hand to assist with guidance to toilets and other facilities.
The performance will be preceded by a short dementia-friendly workshop, explaining how the opera works and giving the audience an opportunity to sing along.
The aim of this collaboration is to develop and refine a toolkit that can be used by other organisations for putting on a variety of dementia friendly performances at venues across the country, laying the foundations for any opera production to become accessible and dementia friendly.
