It's not yet a year since a new drama company was founded in the area.
But already it has staged a moving, very personal piece focussing on the subject of Alzheimer’s and raised over �1,100 for charities connected with the illness.
Talking Stock Productions staged its award-winning play The Last Memory by Halifax playwright Alan Stockdill in a number of venues, including Moldgreen.
The company was formed by Alan, an actor, director and playwright, and Halifax writer and actress Catherine Pasek.
“Catherine had introduced me to her father, Edwin, who has Alzheimer’s disease,” says Alan.
“The tenderness of their relationship touched me and I could see it would make the basis for a really powerful and uplifting play.
“Edwin’s wonderful stories and short-term memory repetitions inspired me to write The Last Memory and once I’d started, I couldn’t stop the words flowing out.
“Catherine agreed to play Lynne, the character based on her, and we got Huddersfield actor Keith Royston to play Edwin’s character, whom we renamed Ernest.”
Most of the cash raised by the performances has gone to the Calderdale and Kirklees Alzheimer’s Society to buy folders, equipment and musical instruments for the local Singing for the Brain groups.
The company’s new show, which will raise money for Childline, opens next week.
Shelagh Stephenson’s hard-hitting drama, Five Kinds of Silence, plays the Viaduct Theatre on Tuesday, February 4, before touring to other venues.
