The cast of residents from two Cygnet Social Care services which support adults with learning disabilities – Trinity House in Lockerbie and Ranaich House in Dunblane – performed the hit songs including ‘Greased Lightning,’ ‘You’re The One That I Want,’ ‘Summer Nights’ and ‘Hopelessly Devoted To You’.
The production, which saw The T-Birds and the Pink Ladies sing the classics with gusto, was overseen by Regional Lead Occupational Therapist Karen Shaw.
Karen explained: “I asked the residents at Trinity House and Ranaich House if they would like to have a Drama Club and work towards performing a show. They thought this would be a good idea and decided they would give it a try.
“Grease was a movie they all knew and enjoyed so it was the best choice for us.
“Some of the residents felt it was an opportunity to face fears such as performing in public. For others it was learning new skills such as singing and dance routines and for some, it was just for fun.”
For rehearsals, initially both groups held separate sessions within their own houses, also meeting on zoom to perform sessions.
The residents quickly felt this was not as good and wanted to be together in person to rehearse. So each week one service would visit the other and run through the script, coordinate dances and design the scenes and sets.
“The residents were at the forefront of each session as they were the ones who knew the movie,” Karen explained. “They were always correcting aspects of the script and pointing out errors made by staff.”
Ranaich House staff tested their creative skills and agreed to make the large props such as the car, radio booth and computerised backdrop.
Describing the performance, Karen said staff had tears in their eyes because they were so proud of everyone. She said: “The performance went very well, many of us had tears of joy seeing how excited the performers were. The performers all worked so hard and they learnt so much. It was a performance none of us will forget.
“The hall was full to capacity and each of the actors were great on stage.
“For me as an Occupational Therapist it was emotional as it was 14 months of working together and it was so good to see the performers out there doing their thing.
“The emotion in the room was fantastic and the interaction and audience participation was spectacular. A few service users talked about being proud of themselves and they were still on a high a week after the production.
“For us staff, seeing how teams and service users from different services could come together was just amazing. Some of the staff said that they had never been so proud since the birth of their own children!”
Karen said she wanted to introduce drama to the residents because it is an effective tool which can improve social and communication skills including concentration, attention, motivation and self-esteem.
She added: “The performing arts is so good for individuals. Initially, many of the residents were doubting themselves and some went through a stage where they wanted to give up. However after the performance they were so proud and they are now talking about their next show.”
Following the performance, Activity Coordinators Kerry Gibson and Kirsty Dickinson, said: “Watching everyone come together and work as a team to put on such an amazing show was one of the highlights of my job so far. My guys who said they would be too nervous to perform to asking when the next show is going to be speaks volumes as to how much their confidence has grown”.
“Throughout this journey that they have made over the last year, it has been beautiful to see the change that each individual has achieved, saw them thrive and become more empowered in themselves.”
Lorraine Platt, Service Manager included: “Absolutely Joyous, I woke up on Sunday morning still smiling from seeing all the service users being so happy and performing.”
Also revelling in the success of the performance were the stars of the show, the residents, and their families that came to watch. Here’s what some of them had to say:
“I felt so good after the show, it took me 4 days to come down.”
“Playing Danny made me feel so good about myself.”
“I never thought I would speak, never mind sing and dance in front of strangers.”
“Attending Drama has enabled me to face my fears.”
“Thank you all so much for an incredible performance in Grease. It was so much fun! We thoroughly enjoyed the show and sat in the audience very proud! Thank you ALL for all the hard work and dedication in putting this production together. We all had a wonderful time and will cherish these memories forever.”
