Norwich Theatre explores loss and grief in new creative season
They're teaming up with Rosedale Funeral Home to stimulate discussions about this difficult topic via workshops and performances
Norwich Theatre has teamed up with Rosedale Funeral Home to encourage us all to have a chat about what we want for our funeral.
It comes as part of their new creative season that uses performances, film and workshops to stimulate discussions about grief and loss.
Anne Beckett-Allen, from Rosedale Funeral Home explains why its so important people explore these issues: "One of the first questions I'll ask is did your mother want to be buried or cremated and they'll look at each other and go, 'I don't know'.
"Then one son might go, I think that she would like to go in that beauty green burial ground, while the daughter might go, well I think she'd prefer to cremated".
She also told us that she hopes this season destigmatises these issues and has a lasting effect: "People don't always think that we are approachable and they don't always want to come into a funeral home premises to have those sort of discussions.
"There's quite an invisible barrier to come into talk to people about death. So for us, we wanted to work with the theatre to encourage people to explore this really difficult topic, through other media.
"You might go to the 'Death Cafe' and have conversations, but it doesn't just end there because the next time you meet up with a friend for a coffee, you go I went to this really different thing at the theatre and it really made me think about what I might want at my funeral and then they may think about what they want at their funeral. Then the cycle just goes on".
Ms Beckett-Allen took part in the event last year and says she can't recommend it highly enough: "I didn't think that I was a creative person at all. I didn't have a creative bone in my body and am a real introvert.
"But I ended up in this workshop writing a poem about my grief, my regret and my relationship with my Dad and I ended up discovering a lot of emotion that I didn't know was there".