Leave An Empty Chair

In 2011 my Grandad Alan was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. For the next seven years, my family and I cared for him and watched as his physical and mental health slowly declined. In the final year of his life he suffered tremendously with his memory, he became violent and began to forget who his family were. Eventually, he was sectioned under the mental health act and in a short few months from November 2017 to March 2018 he lost all resemblance to the man we had known and loved. On March 8th, 2018, he passed away.

I decided that this story needed telling. Not out of ego but of a growing need for educating people about dementia and its destruction of both the patient and their family, and so I began writing ‘Leave An Empty Chair’.

‘Leave An Empty Chair’ focuses on Michael (Mike was a nickname given to my grandad due to there being two Alans in their social circle) and opens with the day he is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. From here we follow his journey and decline and focus on how his disease affects his family as well as him. We see how the changes made to his life can have an adverse effect, even when made with the best intentions, and how this reaction can have an impact on his mental state.

Now although Michael is a Geordie from Newcastle Upon Tyne (as was my grandad) the play is set in Stoke on Trent, our hometown. The cast is made up of some of the very best stage performers that Staffordshire has to offer, and most are members of the Stoke Repertory Theatre Players.

The director, Caroline Keen, is a well-known actress and director from Staffordshire, who has a wealth of experience and knowledge regarding theatre.

To give you some insight into my life, I am an NHS worker by day and an actor/writer/director by night. I have published short stories, poetry and in 2014 a play ‘All That We Seem’, based on the life of Edgar Allan Poe (http://shop.stagescripts.com/categories/plays/full-length/drama/all-that-we-seem.html). I have been acting and performing for over twenty years in Staffordshire in both plays and musicals.

With your help ‘Leave An Empty Chair’ will premiere May 2023 from Tuesday 16th – Sat 20th. The proposed budget required to stage the play is £10,000. This includes hire charges for the theatre, a set, rehearsal space, production fees and publicity. We are offering some great rewards for your generosity which will include scripts, photos, tickets and visits to rehearsals.

There is a great need to show audiences who have never experienced dementia, the life of sufferers and their families. ‘Leave An Empty Chair accomplishes this and draws attention to dementia in an enlightening way. Those who have read the script have said the play is informative, expressively funny and emotional.

Profits from the production will go to the Douglas Macmillan Hospice and the Alzheimer society.

I hope with your kind help we can show others a side to dementia they may not otherwise see, and I hope they never have to.

Kind regards and good health,

Steven K. Beattie