In Autumn 2015, Black Coffee Theatre are embarking on a UK tour with ONE LAST WALTZ. This funny and touching new play deals with coming to terms with Alzheimer’s disease.
Black Coffee Theatre whose previous work includes the 2013 national tour of a brand new adaptation of Chekhov’s The Seagull and the 5* new play ‘Found’ take to the road in October 2015 with this latest play from Luke Adamson that is based on real life experiences of Alzheimer’s.
Black Coffee Theatre are working with international theatre and dance producers Dep Arts to bring this show to theatres around the country culminating in a residency in London’s The Hope Theatre. One Last Waltz is being supported by The Alzheimer’s Society who will be delivering post show discussions with the BCT team which will be free for all ticket holders. The tour is also supported by funds from Arts Council England and the play was written with the help of a grant from the Peggy Ramsay Foundation.
“Alice is becoming more and more forgetful. Her daughter Mandy is always on hand to help out but the strain is becoming too much. A long forgotten photograph stirs a memory and lures Alice back to the Crown Hotel in Blackpool. Hoping for a chance to dance in the tower ballroom one last time mother and daughter set out, but Blackpool isn’t how Alice remembers and things become too much for her as she finds herself getting lost in the past.”
Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia, affecting around 496,000 people in the UK and is predicted to affect 1 in 85 people globally by 2050. Luke Adamson follows his successful debut play ‘Found’ with this new play based on his real life experiences of Alzheimer’s disease. He says: “My grandad was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and the diagnosis gave us some sort of explanation for his increasingly baffling and often erratic behaviour that had begun to cause a deal of tension amongst those around him. Once we had the diagnosis and we were able to start to manage the disease things became somewhat easier but I started to think about how much of that tension could have been avoided if we’d have come to the diagnosis sooner. Having had no previous experience of the disease we missed the tell tale signs, I was spurred to write this play as a way of raising awareness of these tell tale signs. It is very much based upon my own and my family’s dealings with granddad, a kind of tribute to him.”
ONE LAST WALTZ TOUR DATES
Thursday 8th October 8pm
Marlowe Theatre Studio, Canterbury
Tickets £12 (Concs available)
www.marlowetheatre.com
01227 787787
Friday 9th October 1.30pm
The Atkinson Arts Centre, Southport
Tickets £8
www.theatkinson.co.uk
01704 533 333
Wednesday 14th October 8pm
Customs House, South Shields
Tickets £12/10
www.customshouse.co.uk
0191 454 1234
Thursday 15th October 8pm
Seven Arts, Leeds
Tickets £10/£8
www.sevenleeds.co.uk
0113 26 26 777
Sunday 25th October 7pm
Attenborough Arts Centre, Leicester
Tickets £10/£5
0116 252 2455
Thursday 29th October 7.30pm
Spring Arts & Heritage Centre, Havant
Tickets £12.50/11.25
www.thespring.co.uk
023 9247 2700
Thursday 5th November 7.45pm
Cast, Doncaster
Tickets £10.50/£8.50
www.castindoncaster.com
01302 303959
Monday 9th November – Saturday 14th November 7.45pm (Sat matinee 3.30pm)
The Hope Theatre, Islington
Tickets £14/12
www.thehopetheatre.com
0333 666 3366
Tickets for all performances are available from www.blackcoffeetheatre.co.uk/one-last-waltz