‘Withness’: Creative spectating for residents living with advanced dementia in care homes

Abstract

Aiming to illustrate the potential for puppetry as a useful resource in dementia care, the authors argue unusually that play with puppets derives not particularly from drama or theatre, but fundamentally from the performative relationship people have with objects. The puppeteers of the study achieved remarkable emotional connection with care-home residents through an experience of puppetry, which dissolved the unitary autonomy of the puppet, recontextualizing it relationally as the puppeteer-with-puppet-with-spectator. It is this ‘withness’ that ignited the creative spark of presence of the residents. For a moment of trust and child-like joy kinaesthetic memories stirred in them, appearing to break down emotional barriers between the person and the world around them and indicating comparatively longer-term therapeutic benefits.

Creating Worlds: Well-Being through Japanese Otome Bunraku

“…The therapeutic process in puppetry is not only about the dolls, (especially NOT the making of them) but the inseparable, performative and co-present combination of puppeteers, puppets, and spectators. "Withness" is a theoretical term recently invented to describe the puppetry process (Astell-Burt et al, 2020). The combination of a creative psychiatric nurse, Theresa McNally and the author, initially developed the concept of creative spectating that they identified in people living with very advanced dementia.…”

“…One young puppeteer, an electively mute child found comfort and a voice by making a space for hiding behind a screen or inside a puppet booth from where he sang with his puppet and called out. (Astell-Burt, 1981, p. 103) McNally developed a celebratory puppet theater in a shared space where the showing to, or sharing with, happened in a small, special room (Astell-Burt et al, 2020). She also performs at the bedsides of residents of a care-home.…”

Therapeutic Puppetry as a Drama-Therapy Intervention for People Living with Dementia

“…One can also combine puppetry with poetry and music. Therefore, it is a flexible and individually tailored form of intervention, offering a richness of creative experiences (Marshall, 2013; Viklund, 2017), suitable even for those living with advanced dementia (Astell-Burt et al, 2020). Puppetry may also facilitate connections and communication when the person’s words fail, alleviating distress and promoting self-esteem among people with dementia, including those in palliative care (Marshall, 2013).…”