Mr. D is the main character in a new opera, "The Lion's Face," which tours across England and Wales in May. Scientists and artists worked together to create the story, which focuses on dementia, reports the Alzheimer's Society. (Pictured above, David Calder portrays Mr. D; Carol Rowlands portrays his wife.)Other characters include his wife, caregiver and her daughter, and a clinical psychiatrist.
Librettist Glyn Maxwell told the society the opera is "about a man with dementia who is trying to make sense of a confusing world. He is still able to communicate but doesn't recognise his family anymore, but the focus isn't just on him. It's about what the others go through. Mr D is the only one with a spoken role; the others all sing."
Artistic Director John Fulljames says in a news release that “opera seems to be the ideal art-form in which to explore a retreat into an inner world in which the patient’s ability to communicate with the world diminishes. One of the aims of the project is to find ways of communicating the experience of being touched by the condition – either as patient, carer, clinician or scientist – with a view to increasing public understanding.”
Read more about "The Lion's Face," including venues, at thelionsface.wordpress.com
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