Song, dance, and dementia collide in this award winning ,fun-filled show.
Billed by 'Metro Lite' under 'Must see Comedy,' 'Off her Trolley' is a blend of stand-up, character and song that explores some serious issues as well.
Focusing on the lives of those that live and work in residential care for the elderly 'Off her Trolley' looks at the impact of Alzheimer's disease on the individual and their loved ones and of poor working conditions on quality of care.
Packed with gentle anecdotal humour, and pulling some punches too, join the carer, the NVQ student and the visitor as they share with you their lives.
Laughter and reflection guaranteed.
Saturday 30th of January 2010
Start: 8pm | Tickets: £10 (£8 concessions)
Box Office: 01892 678 678
Trinity
Church Road | Tunbridge Wells | Kent | TN1 1JP
About Eleanor Bennet
Eleanor Bennet is bringing her one woman show 'Off her Trolley!' to Tunbridge Wells, at Trinity, and whilst funny and entertaining it also raises issues that effect everyone. Eleanor does not receive any funding yet is doing something important in the local and wider community.
We asked asked her why she wrote the show.
'Well, I'm a care assistant' says Eleanor, 'and for many years I have worked with the elderly, so its just natural for me to write about what I know about and what I care about, to raise awareness and get it to as many places as possible, out into the community. There are things that unite us all, we all get old, we all at some point in our lives have a loved one that develops dementia or Alzheimers disease, we all will worry about these things, ah, and last but not least, we all like to laugh and not think about these things! Oh yes, and a lot of us, people everywhere are very likely to know someone who works as a care assistant, there's heaps of us!' So I'm touring to as many places as possible with it.'
Eleanor's show is about the lives of those that live and work in residential care for the Elderly, and it gets across a lot of important points. It says something positive about older people and the last speech is based upon conversations that she had with a lady in her care who despite having dementia, Eleanor tells us, came out with some really good advice.
She touches on the plight of relatives and friends as well who can often get a very negative press, people can be quite judgmental when the very real need arises for residential care.”Its so hard for them losing a loved one slowly and often they try and cope alone and obviously just cant as dementia progresses.”
Eleanor also has quite a bit to say about working conditions too, and she tells us that this was another main reason why she wrote the show. “I've worked as a carer for a long time, and I've seen things changing, working conditions worsening, and this obviously has a big impact on quality of care.”
But 'Off her Trolley!' is also a lot of fun! One of her characters 'Emma' does a bit of gentle audience participation...nothing too full on she says, because people hate it!
The show is very much a blend of serious theatre and comedy, and it also has a song in there for good measure! Eleanor tells us that she has changed it a little and sometimes does things differently at each performance to keep it ' fresh,' “ I used to do a tap dance thing to it actually, which was horrendous! I mean it was supposed to be horrendous and totally silly, and I used to blunder into my props because my hat falls over my face...on purpose, but I did nearly blunder off stage once, and not into the wings either, just off it!!! so sometimes I do a bit of audience participation instead, and during it I get people to sing along, or I talk over bits of it depending on how they react or what I feel like.”
The song is called 'We Wipe Bums!' and is available on Amazon and i tunes, and it's also on sale at the shows. All sales proceeds go to the Alzheimer's Society! so that's another reason why Eleanor is keen to get the show and song to as many places as possible. She has had a lot of interviews with community radio stations and is on a few playlists around the country.
So she certainly is busy touring with the show and promoting 'We Wipe Bums!' She is also writing next years show ready for the Edinburgh Festival and before that has a Guinness World record attempt coming up in March
She is (in keeping with show and song!) building the worlds tallest toilet roll tower! This is also to raise awareness about Alzheimer's disease and to promote the single for the Alzheimer's Research Trust and is happening in Reading.
About Kirrie Wratten:
Kirrie Wratten is a local. She has more than twelve years experience of directing new work on the London fringe and classic plays at the Trinity in Tunbridge Wells.
Her directing work includes, Counterfeit Skin by Jason Charles, and two one woman shows, Essentially Ethel, adapted by Gill Stoker from the memoirs of Ethel Smyth, as well as 'Off Her Trolley!' for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. For both shows, Kirrie won Best Director at the Lion & Unicorn Solo Festival in August 2008.
'Off Her Trolley!' is on at Trinity on:
Saturday 30th of January 2010 Start 8pm | Tickets £10 (£8 concs)
