Monday’s Child
By Brendan Murray
A simple, poetic, magical production about memory – for early years children, their families and teachers.
The performance is accompanied by workshops and educational materials to support school readiness.
About the show
Monday’s Child is a fully designed and staged performance production enriched by participatory workshops and educational resource material.
The show tells a simple and poetic story of the unique bond between an old woman and a little girl. Together in a dream-like garden, they sing, play, dance and dress up as they joyously explore a treasure trove of memories.
Original, inspirational and culturally rich, the production is a magical mix of movement, music and beautiful design.
Read about the creative thinking behind the production in this blog post by our designer Chris de Wilde.
The story explores how people learn, remember, grow older and cope with the challenges of recall and retention. The play was developed with input from neuroscientists at the University of Sussex and the Alzheimer’s Society.
Read about the writing of Monday’s Child and the moving schools feedback which followed the play’s Gateshead tour in Brendan Murray’s blog post.
Production images
(Click to enlarge)
Photos by Damn Cheek.
Community involvement
At the heart of our work is that we welcome in communities and audiences to be active partners in our productions.
In Monday’s Child we support both early years pupils to develop school-readiness and older members of the community to benefit through intergenerational awareness and communication.
The original tour of Monday’s Child involved local Age UK service users who joined the children in workshop activities and in watching the school performance.
This link between early years pupils and older adults enables the transfer of knowledge and experience between the two. The performance deepens the mutual understanding that older and younger generations have, particularly around conditions such as dementia.
By developing projects with a strong emphasis on community involvement, we encourage people to reach outside their existing context and explore diverse approaches to life. Further, we create a network of interpersonal relationships, inter-organisational connections, social cohesion and teamwork.
We also always aim to deliver transforming benefit, during the duration of our projects and as a lasting legacy thereafter.
Team
The Damn Cheek team for Monday’s Child is headed by Artistic Director Darren Cheek and writer Brendan Murray along with Designer Chris de Wilde plus actors, musicians, stage management, and audio-description/BSL interpretation staff drawn from the existing team of Damn Cheek associates.
The full team for the 2022 Gateshead production is below, along with our generous funders and partners.
A huge thank you to Karenza Passmore (Religious Resources Centre); Rev. Tom Worsley, Mavis Worsley and all the team at Christ Church Felling; Julie Latimer (Gateshead Age UK); Rev. Danie Lindley; Greg Daniel; Dr Tom Murray; Kate Ellis. Without their support, Monday’s Child would simply not have happened.
Want to book Monday's Child?
Want to book us to perform Monday’s Child in your area?
Want to know more about our other projects?
Contact Darren asap for a quick informal chat on 07956 891 110.
