It is 7 months since the hospital clown workshop, a lot of days on the ward and in dementia units, and I find I am still making new discoveries, or putting things that we learned into practice for the first time.
Recently, I remembered about the plastic sheeting. Eric de Sarria introduced us to it as a potential object to play with (Compagnie Phillippe Genty use it to great effect in their theatre productions - see above image). It isn't really viable in a hospital ward setting, for hygiene reasons, but I have recently had some wonderful interactions with it on dementia wards.
I was nervous to take it out for the first time, aware of the potential Health and Safety issues, but we are constantly doing dynamic risk assessments as we work, and decided to go for it. Initially Bonnie simply spread it over the floor of the living room and waited by the window. Manly Elderflower took one corner of the sheet to look at more closely, and the gentleman sitting next to him took it and started to wrap it around the leg of his zimmer frame. Bonnie Elderflower billowed the sheet from the opposite corner, creating a breeze and the effect of water, or a sail or the wind. Soon, another gentlemen came to join the sofa, and took another part of the sheet, holding it down as if it were a sheet on a sailing boat. Manly Elderflower was echoing the vocalisations of the gentlemen, 'easy!', 'hold it!', while Bonnie increased and decreased the tension of the sheet accordingly. Finally another gentleman came over and held on. After a while, the 'storm' passed and all was calm. The gentlemen had saved the day.
In all the time I have been on this ward, I have never seen these men interact with each other in this way. It was a brief, but very tangible moment of camaraderie. They were all in it together, helping each other out, without once saying a single word to each other.
Since then I have used sheeting frequently in the dementia units that I visit. It is sometimes poetic and abstract and sometimes very concrete - looking for holes or trying to fold it. Folding it is especially fun because it fills with air and it can be very problematic - lots for the ladies and gents we visit to help with. And of course sometimes I bring it out of my bag and nobody notices or cares for it at all.
Recently, I remembered about the plastic sheeting. Eric de Sarria introduced us to it as a potential object to play with (Compagnie Phillippe Genty use it to great effect in their theatre productions - see above image). It isn't really viable in a hospital ward setting, for hygiene reasons, but I have recently had some wonderful interactions with it on dementia wards.
I was nervous to take it out for the first time, aware of the potential Health and Safety issues, but we are constantly doing dynamic risk assessments as we work, and decided to go for it. Initially Bonnie simply spread it over the floor of the living room and waited by the window. Manly Elderflower took one corner of the sheet to look at more closely, and the gentleman sitting next to him took it and started to wrap it around the leg of his zimmer frame. Bonnie Elderflower billowed the sheet from the opposite corner, creating a breeze and the effect of water, or a sail or the wind. Soon, another gentlemen came to join the sofa, and took another part of the sheet, holding it down as if it were a sheet on a sailing boat. Manly Elderflower was echoing the vocalisations of the gentlemen, 'easy!', 'hold it!', while Bonnie increased and decreased the tension of the sheet accordingly. Finally another gentleman came over and held on. After a while, the 'storm' passed and all was calm. The gentlemen had saved the day.
In all the time I have been on this ward, I have never seen these men interact with each other in this way. It was a brief, but very tangible moment of camaraderie. They were all in it together, helping each other out, without once saying a single word to each other.
Since then I have used sheeting frequently in the dementia units that I visit. It is sometimes poetic and abstract and sometimes very concrete - looking for holes or trying to fold it. Folding it is especially fun because it fills with air and it can be very problematic - lots for the ladies and gents we visit to help with. And of course sometimes I bring it out of my bag and nobody notices or cares for it at all.