Living with dementia is living in the present and the past, all at once.
“三字经 3 Words, Repeat.” is about a real-life father and daughter duo reflecting on who they were and who they are at this point of their shared journey navigating through dementia. Through the honest act of theatre-making, they will learn to truly listen and lean on each other.
To recall, reclaim and relinquish the parallel journeys of a liberal, laughter-filled childhood and a challenging, unorthodox parenthood. They will switch, shift and shatter the identities of caregiver and care-receiver, whilst confronting the questions laid bare by this disease:
Is it really possible to just concede and not argue with dementia?
To forgive and forget past mistakes and misfortune?
To repeat every new day without a recurring sense of loss?
The performance is co-created and performed by founder of Access Path, Grace Lee-Khoo and her father Tan Tok, a retiree who lives with Alzhemiers.
Over 6 months, Lee-Khoo explored the process of working with a performer without the ability of remembering his lines and cues. A new methodology of evocative performance-making, facilitated by personal memory, music, Socratic questioning and tactile props, was developed by Lee-Khoo to enable onstage spontaneity and authentic storytelling by Tan.
The performance enjoyed a 7 show run over a weekend in September 2019 as part of the second edition of The Enabling Festival.
3 Words, Repeat has been adapted to school show touring format and to date has toured to a few local institutions. The 25 minute performance is followed by a post-show dialogue with students and teachers. To book a school show, please email grace@accesspathproductions .