As the artistic director of Spare Tyre, I’ve been fortunate to work on a range of theatre projects that have put the issues facing vulnerable people centre stage. Safe is one such project. A wonderful, funny and absurd play, it was first commissioned by a local authority in 2008 to explore safeguarding issues with officers during a conference.
Safe sees characters trying to stage a play, but they keep getting interrupted by people intent on keeping them “nice and safe”. A health and safety officer tells them their prop umbrellas are potentially lethal; a local councillor worries about slips, trips and falls; a care assistant just wants them to sit down and drink tea. We see the play fall to bits and the cast utterly immobilised, bound and gagged – but safe! – by the end.
It might be an absurd production, but the frustration on stage echoes frustration in life. Our cast comprises older people (most of our actors are aged 65 and over) and those with learning disabilities. Lived experience can’t help but inform their performances – every cast member knows what it feels like to be told not to attempt something because of the risk involved.
We chose to launch Spare Tyre’s 40th anniversary celebrations this year by reviving it, because today the issues raised are just as relevant. The play’s strapline – “Take risk away, and what’s left?” – is something the social care community continues to debate. Care workers often tell us they worry about the appropriate balance between protection from harm and support for people to live independently.
We all know that wellbeing comes from a sense of achievement and purpose – people need to be pushed towards their goals, not back into their armchairs. The obvious challenge in terms of safeguarding is that despite the legislative and policy frameworks we have – the Care Act, safeguarding boards and reams of organisational guidance – so much of it comes down to individual professional judgment. The decisions that are weighed up and taken day after day, in partnership with the people being cared for, will inevitably need regular revision as circumstances change.
That is why it’s so great to put on a production that speaks to professionals in the care sector. In our experience, the social care workforce has so much training to undertake, so little time, and so much steam to let off. The arts can provide a refreshing and valuable perspective on these challenges, as well as a much-needed laugh.
It’s what we try to do with all our work – gently shift perspectives through subtle creative processes. For example, The Garden, our touring performance for people with dementia, aims to change the environment in care homes. As care worker and cared-for experience the piece together, the main thing I hope they’re feeling is serenity, because there is often so little of that in their day-to-day routine.
During the last two years of touring The Garden, we have worked with more than 500 dementia care workers to support them in tactile, non-verbal communication skills. Finding ways of turning everyday activities such as brushing hair, eating or washing into sensory activities can help to reduce stress and bring a sense of positive calm to a morning routine.
Safe is very different – we’re creating a performance for a public audience – but the way we work is grounded in the same values as our dementia work: letting participants pause and reflect, and really be part of something. In the rehearsal room, I’m not afraid of silence. I want to give people time to take in what they’re doing, and react at their own speed, so they can be part of the process. You could say I’m taking on a very different kind of risk – the risk of handing over creative ownership and power to the participants I work with.
In the arts we take carefully considered risks every day – physical, creative, emotional. It makes us the perfect partner to help the care sector explore different ways of doing things, to find new ways to balance risk and safeguarding, and to support people to participate fully in their own lives.
- Arti Prashar is artistic director of the Spare Tyre theatre company. Safe runs at the New Diorama theatre, London, from 15 – 18 March 2017.
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