THEATRE lovers are being invited to a show all about death.
The Death Show the brainchild of Birmingham-based actors Antonia Beck and Lucy Nicholls, is billed as “a darkly comic journey of discovery and contemplation, exploring our universal relationships with death and dying”. The duo ask why are we afraid of the inevitable and why are we anxious about how we are remembered.
Putting the show together, the duo trained with celebrants, shadowed undertakers and talked extensively with hospice patients, GPs and palliative care nurses.
This show invites its audience to celebrate their own mortality. To laugh, cry, stick two fingers up at the grim reaper and discover why talking about death is ultimately life affirming.
Through humour, conversation and reflection, The Death Show aims to encourage more people to think and talk about death and looks to break down some of the taboos surrounding this universal subject matter.
The show is being staged at The Witham, Barnard Castle on Wednesday, February 27.
Sarah Gent, The Witham's marketing manager, said: “Having seen a small bit of this show back in October, I am enthused about a piece of theatre that gives you the chance to laugh in the face of death, whilst celebrating your own mortality.”
Tickets for the show are £8 in advance and £10 on the door, available at www. thewitham.org.uk or from the box office on 01833 631107.
Following on from the show, Tamara Bibby, a locally-based celebrant, is running three “Death Cafés” at the arts complex on Saturday, March 2, from 2pm to 4pm.
A free event, the Death Café provides a relaxed atmosphere in which to talk about death and dying.
It aims to “increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives”.
Ms Bibby said: “I’ve come across families who have, and indeed families who haven’t managed to have conversations about death and it feels very important to offer people a space in which to begin to think about how to have those conversations. They need not be difficult or gloomy.”
