A play about love. And dementia. But mostly about love.

Very few of us today remain untouched by dementia, and DESCENT is a play about something that's becoming increasingly important in all of our lives. Our hope is that touring it widely will help people to talk about and share their experiences, bring this issue to wider attention and help, eventually, to fuel the search for an effective treatment - or even, who knows? a cure.  And funding for the first phase of a UK tour would help greatly in bringing this about.

THE PLAY

What makes you 'you'? What makes you love someone? And what if something comes along that changes those things beyond recognition?

Rob and Cathy are ready for the next phase of their lives now that their daughter Nicola has grown up and left home.  But when Rob starts to develop early-onset dementia, they're suddenly facing a very different future.  Reluctant to face the truth, and refusing to let Nicola help, they find themselves caught in a spiral of fear and denial which threatens to tear the family apart.

THE STORY SO FAR

Descent started life as part of A Play, A Pie and A Pint (lunchtime theatre at Oran Mor in Glasgow and the Traverse in Edinburgh). It then toured Scotland in early 2017, and most recently was performed at the Edinburgh Fringe. It's garnered rave reviews throughout, was nominated for Best New Play at the CATS (Critics' Award for Theatre in Scotland) in 2016, and has just won a Spirit of the Fringe Award at the Festival.

But the most important thing for us is the audience reaction.  Everywhere we've played, audiences have come up after the show, sharing their reactions to the play and their experiences with us and with each other.  It's been a profound and humbling experience to listen to the stories they've told, and it's borne in on us just how important it is that people have a chance to talk about this.  That's why we think it's so important that we carry on the conversation by touring the play as widely as possible.

THE PLANNED TOUR

During the Fringe we had interest from venues in various areas of the UK and from US and Australia in taking the show.  Only some of these are able to offer any funding support, however.  We will make application to UK funding organisations for support for a tour, but the current funding climate means that we have to try to raise as much of the costs as we can from other sources.  JustGiving support would help us to fund a small-scale UK tour in late Spring on 2018, we are hopeful that we can build on that to take the play out further, perhaps even internationally at a later date. The costs involved are mostly transport, accommodation and wages for the actors and stage management, and fees or royalties for the creative team.   

Our hope is that touring the play widely will help people to talk about and share their experiences, bring this issue to wider attention and help, eventually, to fuel the search for an effective treatment - or even, who knows? a cure.  And funding for the first phase of the tour will help greatly in bringing this about.

family apart.