The Keys are in the Margarine

Imagine a world where familiar objects lose their meaning ...

Una is  93. She plays a pretty good game of scrabble, and she has dementia.
Peter is a lawyer. He was also the mayor when he first lost his wife.
Erin, Rosanna and Kerry work in a dementia care unit.

They are some of the 17 people whose stories are related in The Keys are in the Margarine, a verbatim play about dementia from Dunedin's Talking House collective.

“It is surprisingly hard to put into words how well these actors 'act' their characters. They completely inhabit the people whose stories they are sharing.” - Dunedin Performance Journal

GP Susie Lawless was one of those interviewed for the collective’s first verbatim work, Hush, which dealt with family violence. She was impressed by the power of the medium to present difficult issues to an audience in a new way: "We could see an opportunity to allow the voices of those living with dementia to be heard. The stigma around this heartbreaking but increasingly common illness makes it difficult for these people and their families to tell their stories; and we know that the burden for carers is immense.

Verbatim, or documentary, theatre is well established in Dunedin. It involves filming interviews with participants with various perspectives on a subject. The interviews are edited and a story created. Working from the interviews, actors learn as accurately as possible every verbal inflexion and intonation, every physical gesture and facial expression. In peformance actors use an MP3 player and an ear bud, hearing the original words and re-presenting them simultaneously. The only changes that are made are those necessary to protect the identity of the participants.

“ … knowing this is all from actual interviews gives it an extraordinary intimacy and power ... an almost alarmingly truthful form of theatre.” - Theatreview

"One of the fascinating aspects of verbatim theatre is you don't know what story you will be telling until it emerges from the participants' testimony," says director/actor Cindy Diver.
"With The Keys are in the Margarine, many themes came to light from the interviews. After hours of collaborative editing we had a script that is in turns thought-provoking, funny, and incredibly poignant."

Imagine a world where familiar objects lose their meaning. Hearing from those living with the illness, caregivers, family members, doctors, and support workers, conveys the all-encompassing effect dementia has on the lives of the sufferers and everyone around them.

“ … a moving and inspiring theatre experience.” The Star

The Keys are in the Margarine premiered in the Fortune Theatre Studio in Dunedin last year, with a sold-out extended season. The play won the Robert Lord Script/Narrative of the year at the 2014 Dunedin Theatre Awards.

The Keys are in the Margarine
Herald Theatre,  Aotea Centre
Sat 22 – Sat 29 August

Tues, Wed 6.30pm | Thurs – Sat 8pm | Sun 2pm
Tickets $35 | Conc $25  service fees apply
Bookings www.ticketmaster.co.nz or 09 970 9700