‘Harry’s Home’ was originally a one act play I directed for community theatre group Theatre at Baddow in Essex. Twelve years later, it an audio drama about dementia.
I was looking for something to stage on the theme of ‘Memory’ and by chance, was introduced to Hannah Puddefoot. She told me about a play she’d written about a Dementia and Alzheimer’s sufferer forced to move out of his sheltered accommodation after an incident involving his flatmate and back in with his family. They love him and want to help, but they really don’t know the best way to go about it – plus they have chaotic lives of their own. It was a perfect moment of serendipity and the first performance took place in April 2013 at a local studio theatre.
I always felt Harry’s Home deserved a bigger audience. Its subject matter, sensitive handling, relatable characters – and humour – resonated with everyone who saw the small, original production, but I had neither the skills nor the experience to take it further back then. Twelve years on, I finally feel I’ve acquired both and I’m now of an age where it has even more resonance for me and the people around me. Both of my parents were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in the last two years. This inspired me to make an audio drama about dementia.
With a few professional radio dramas under my belt, I contacted Hannah to see if she’d be interested in adapting Harry’s Home for audio. Fortunately she was and working with script editor Colin Brake, she turned it into a 75 minute radio play.
This is a personal project with a lot of resonance for both me and Hannah, so while I’ve recruited friends and colleagues at B7 Media to help produce it, this is a not-for-profit production. As such, creating this audio drama about dementia is a labour of love for all involved.
Yesterday (13 Jan 2025) recording studio The Soundhouse joined us a co-producers and very generously donated two days of studio time, allowing us to schedule in the recording of Harry’s Home – so we’ll be heading to Acton in mid-March!
THE CAST
‘Doctor Who’ actor Nicola Bryant is both co-star and co-producer and so far, actors Rose Quentin, Timothy Blore and Joshua Manning, all with multiple credits in film, TV and audio. You can read more about their previous work here.
We have just one more cast member still to come: the titular Harry…
Our crowdfund raised just over £1,000 towards production. Myself and the Director have deferred our fees indefinitely, but we still need to pay the actors we have cast fairly. At present, we have enough to pay our five actors for one day in the studio. We need more funding to cover the second day and post-production. While we can ask people to work for free or deferred payment, we’d much rather be able to guarantee payment for their work on this audio drama about dementia.
The crowdfund has ended, but if you want to help fund the ongoing production of this important drama the GOFUNDME page is still running!
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
“My name is Harry Castle. Before I forgot.”
After an incident between his roommate and their carer at his assisted living flat, Harry unwillingly finds himself back home with his family; permanently busy and pre-occupied daughter Theresa and adult grandchildren Keith and Laurie. Distracted with their own lives, how can they possibly provide the support Harry needs?
Attempting to cajole the family into prioritising Harry is his care worker, Rob, who despite being painfully on the wrong end of a cricket bat during the flatmate incident, is still determined to help Harry settle back into his old home.
Even with a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, Harry is not unaware of the disruptive impact his arrival has had. His capacity for navigating his new circumstances may have diminished, but for now he has retained his dry sense of humour.
One evening during a family meal, Harry fixates on the noisy crows on the roof, just as he often did before his diagnosis, and tries to tackle the problem in his old and impetuous manner. It’s a terrifying wakeup call for Theresa as she realises she must take the chance to rebuild her relationship with her father while he still remembers her.
Harry’s Home is an authentic, gently funny and emotional play touching upon the day-to-day realism of living with a dementia sufferer, and a reminder that whatever is slowly being lost, there may still be time left to mend old hurts, build bridges and create new memories for those who are left behind.