Finding Joy tells the tale of Grandmother Joy on her 83rd birthday. She’s feisty, loves to dance, and is losing her memory. Her grandson Danny is rebellious, bright and always getting into trouble. When Danny decides to look after Joy, they discover a shared playfulness, a growing love and a future together that holds many challenges.

During last year’s run of Finding Joy, several members of staff at Artrix became Dementia Friends with The Alzheimer’s Society and Artrix was proud to become a Dementia Friendly organisation as part of the Worcestershire Dementia Action Alliance. Since then, more new members of staff have signed up to the programme, committing to make Artrix an inclusive and welcoming venue for all to visit.

Angela Galvin, Interim Director and Dementia Friend at Artrix said; “Since we first welcomed Vamos Theatre Company to Artrix with their production of Finding Joy, the front of house staff here have learnt a huge amount about how to work alongside and welcome visitors to the building who may be dealing with Dementia. We have plans in place for members of our Young Volunteers scheme to become Dementia Friends, helping to build relationships between some of our youngest visitors and older members of the community.”

A beautiful mix of wordless theatre, consummate full-mask skills and engaging storytelling, Finding Joy has proved to be a hit with carers, people living with dementia and theatre enthusiasts alike. The production is a warm and engaging piece of theatre that can make audiences laugh, reflect and find joy is the most emotive of subjects, a subject that has touched many people’s lives.

The Worcester-based company responsible for creating Finding Joy, Vamos Theatre, has a visually striking trademark style. As the UK’s leading full mask theatre company their wordless theatre productions, based on real-life stories and social research, are brought to life with stunning and characterful masks. Vamos are the resident theatre company at Worcester Arts Workshop and Artrix are pleased to be welcoming back this award-winning work, created within Worcestershire.

Finding Joy will be performed at Artrix on Monday 29th October at 7.30pm and a relaxed performance will take place on Tuesday 30th October at 11am, designed for those who may benefit from watching the performance in a more relaxed environment.