Playback Theatre

Breaking the Taboo

Report on Playback on Death & Dying.

Recently, Brisbane Playback Theatre performed at a conference for palliative care nurses. Neil Simmons, who attended the Centre’s summer session, reports on their experience. “When it came to the actual show it was not clear that it would work in a large conference room with 200 audience members. Perhaps we would be seen as the light entertainment between the ‘important’ presentations on “innovation and excellence,” the conference theme. Perhaps the stories would not be so deep or personal in such a large forum. However we were assured that palliative care nurses are a down to earth bunch and would be ready to tell. As it turned out this was right and our audience came forward enthusiastically with very personal tellings which were expertly handled by our conductor. The speaker on before us had presented material about the importance of self-nurturing when you work in palliative care. Hence the first few moments of the show were about different ways that people nurtured themselves. Then followed some fluid sculptures of times when people were distressed with work.  We presented a narrative V about a woman who felt ashamed about coming home and dumping all her work frustrations on her teenage son. One of the main themes of the show was creating a balance between the challenge of work and having a good life outside work. We were effective in meeting our audience and at the end the room gave us a standing ovation. This experience has spurred us on to do further work in the area of death and dying. Teachers at the Playback Centre in New York emphasized the need for building partnerships with the community on a continuing basis in order to make the work of playback effective. This is the goal over the next few years. Helping people talk honestly about death and dying reduces fear and suffering. Playback has a role to bring the discourse into a public arena.”