Contrary Life

Contrary Life is a website covering quirky events across the UK.

  • Home
  • About
  • Events by region
    • North East
    • North West
    • Yorkshire
    • East Midlands
    • West Midlands
    • East
    • London
    • South East
    • South West
    • Scotland
    • Northern Ireland
    • Wales
Home > FEATURED-STORIES > Do your Homework and head to The London Theatre

Do your Homework and head to The London Theatre

By Caroline King - November 7, 2012Posted in : FEATURED-STORIES, Theatre

Homework by Howard Colyer at The London Theatre (photo: Chloe Wicks)

Dealing with dementia in Homework at The London Theatre (photo: Chloe Wicks)

When: 13th November – 1st December 2012

Where: The London Theatre, 443 New Cross Road, London SE14 6TA

£: 12, concessions 10 (suitable for ages 12+)

What is it?

“What is an individual but a collection of memories on legs?  Take away the memories and what’s left? Legs.  And even they aren’t working well any more.”

Homework is an intimate two-hander which centres on an elderly woman veering between the borders of dementia and lucidity.  Agitated by a shrinking frame of reference and a myriad of tangled memories, her life revolves around phone calls to her middle-aged son, Vincent.  Comprising thirty scenes and thirty phone calls, mother and son live out their cyclical relationship one call at a time.

Homework by Howard Colyer at The London Theatre (photo: Chloe Wicks)

A mother and son face humorous and harsh truths in Homework (photo: Chloe Wicks)

With a set split between Vincent’s writing studio and his mother’s bedsit, the play is similarly torn between the humorous and harsh truths in their relationship.  Whilst Vincent attempts to care for his aged mother, she still chides her 48 year old son like a child, as her past becomes assimilated into one continuous event.  In an age of ever-increasing dementia levels amongst the elderly, and rising national focus on the lack of proper institutional care, Homework illustrates these issues from a refreshingly delicate and human perspective.

Dementia describes different disorders that trigger a loss of the functions of the brain.  These conditions are all usually progressive and eventually severe.  There are currently 800,000 dementia sufferers in the UK, with numbers set to rise to over 1 million by 2021.  One in three people over 65 will die with Alzheimer’s or another type of dementia.  There is no known cure for the disease, yet the government invests eight times less in dementia research than cancer research.

More info: Visit www.namelesstheatre.com and www.londontheatre.com for more information and tickets.

Tagged With: Homework, Howard Colyer, London, London events, London theatre, The London Theatre

Curiosity of the Week

The quirky wonders of Wigtown
Martyr's Stake in Wigtown

The annual Wigtown Book Festival opens this week. So, we thought it was a good time to take a look at this quirky Scottish town for our latest Curiosity of the Week…

Top Story

Solo cinema and scientific sounds at Flatpack Festival
Flatpack Festival 2022, Design by Keith Dodds and Illustration by Jacques Kleynhans

Flatpack Festival brings an eclectic mix of shows, screenings and activities that surprise and delight audiences to venues across Birmingham…

What are you looking for today?

  • Alternative Sport
  • Art
  • Cabaret and Circus
  • Cinema
  • Classes, Workshops & Talks
  • Club Night
  • Comedy
  • Dance
  • Exhibitions and Installations
  • Fairs and Markets
  • Festival
  • Food & Drink
  • Heritage and History
  • Interview
  • Literature
  • Museum
  • Music
  • Nature and Outdoors
  • Review
  • Science and Technology
  • Theatre
  • Walks and Tours

Sign up to our Newsletter

Copyright © 2022 · Contrary Life