A POWERFUL new play written by The Witham’s youth theatre leader, Christina Castling, is coming to Teesdale this autumn.
Beyond Caring is Ms Castling’s second full length play and takes a frank, humorous and often heart-breaking look at life behind the doors of a care home.
Audiences are being invited to meet Queenie, Elaine and Alex, resident, relative and carer at Cedar Point Care Home, a place where the corridors roar with laughter and ache with sadness and outrageous antics mingle with tough conversations.
Care home residents Queenie, played by Judi Earl (Vera, Joe Maddison’s War) is staging a protest because she wants to have a tab and can’t have one without being supervised. Elaine, whose mum is busy deciding whether she wants to go into a care home, will be played by Jacqueline Phillips (Emmerdale, Inspector George Gently) and Alex, a carer working in the care home will be brought to life by Rosie Stancliffe (Danny and Mick, In Waiting).
The play, which comes to The Witham, in Barnard Castle, on Friday, October 20, follows the success of Ms Castling’s first full length offering, A Way Home, that toured theatre and community venues in the north east last year.
She said: “In 2021 I interviewed carers, residents and their relatives at care homes across the north east to better understand the reality of working, living or supporting someone living in a care home.”
As part of the north east tour Beyond Caring, directed by Jonluke McKie, will feature two celebration events to encourage care staff to explore their wellbeing and help them feel empowered.
Ms Castling added: “We’re delighted that Beyond Caring will help facilitate crucial conversations about the wellbeing of care home staff. We hope the play will have a lasting impact on audiences, while demonstrating how the arts can play a meaningful role in encouraging debate around timely issues.”
Tickets, which cost £12 for under 16s and £14 for adults are on sale now. To book visit thewitham.org.uk
![A COUNTY councillor is backing a campaign to get a pedestrian crossing in Staindrop. Frustrated parish councillors in the village summoned their county council representative Cllr George Richardson to their latest meeting to discuss several issues, including the call for a safe way to cross the A688. Earlier this year their request for a crossing was turned down by the county council’s highways officers. Parish council chairman Jonothan Raper described the reasons for the refusal as “spurious” and called on Cllr Richardson to support their campaign. He added: “One of the arguments they made was there is no clear line of desire when they studied the village – well this isn’t a clear line of desire because there isn’t a crossing, people cross whenever they can. “When the lollipop person was there, one of the things I noticed was people would walk all the way down to the lollipop person to cross the road to go to the shop or to go to the school.” He added a problem of parking at the primary school is exacerbated because people are too afraid to walk their children across the road. Cllr Richardson said he had supported previous attempts for a crossing point with the first being made about 15 years ago. He added: “We went fairly well down the road with that and they looked into it. The only recommended place was where the bus stop is and to get the visibility splays, people on the other side of the road would lose their parking. “That didn’t go down well so it just died a death.” Cllr Raper said he suspected the real reason for the officers’ refusal was the cost of installing a crossing. He added that much of the cost could be recovered from savings made on not having to employ a lollipop patrol. Cllr Raper said: “A lollipop person only provides a benefit of crossing for three hours of the day. You are getting 21 extra hours of crossing time [with a pedestrian crossing].” Cllr Richardson said he would raise the issue with the county council’s cabinet member for highways, Cllr John Shuttleworth.](https://teesdalemercury.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/georgeR-120x86.jpg)
