Description
Pam Schweitzer
Reminiscence Theatre is a comprehensive guide to the nature, practice and therapeutic effects of reminiscence theatre. Drawing on examples from a range of real-life case studies, Pam Schweitzer provides practical advice on how to draw out oral histories, create a script, and develop the material into a dramatic production from your life experience. Excellent, thorough book!
The book outlines five significant benefits of reminiscence theatre:
- artistic development through creating original productions
- cultural development, by creating reminiscence theatre in multi-cultural contexts, including dual-language productions;
- educational development through the intergenerational sharing and enactment of memories;
- psycho-social development for older people by reliving and reshaping past experiences;
- healthcare, by using improvised reminiscence drama therapeutically with people with dementia and their carers
This book will be of great interest to theatre workers, social work professionals and carers of older people, arts therapy practitioners and students in these fields.
Reviews:
– Faith Gibson, Emeritus Professor of Social Work, University of Ulster’This highly-readable and engaging book is drawn from the experiences of working within the arena of reminiscence theatre. Everyone has a voice – Schweitzer has provided another avenue for us to explore. Impressively.’
– Signpost
About Pam Schweitzer:
Pam founded Age Exchange Theatre Trust in 1983. It was the first full-time professional theatre company that toured reminiscence theatre across the UK and Europe. In 2000 Pam was awarded the many awards for services to Reminiscence and her leadership to the European Reminiscence Network, lecturing, directing and training in reminiscence and related fields.
In 1993, Pam founded and was Artistic Director of the Good Companions, a Senior Theatre, which produced 10 original productions, that were performed throughout the UK and Europe.
