Vamos Theatre, the UK’s leading full mask theatre company, recently completed a national tour of its production about living and dying, Dead Good. During a Q&A session after a performance at the Mercury Theatre Colchester, the cast were asked, “ What would be on your own bucket lists?” A voice from the audience answered, “On the top of my list would be to work on stage with Vamos.” This was Tim Strugnell, who had come to see the show and is living with a terminal cancer diagnosis.
Fast forward two weeks and Tim is on stage at the last night of Dead Good, at the Arena Theatre Wolverhampton, performing in the show. Hearing Tim’s comment, Vamos Theatre was determined to make his wish happen, and approached him after the performance to see if he was serious about it. He was, and so on the last day of the tour, Tim was rehearsed into the show to play John (a character with a terminal diagnosis), learning how to perform in the non-verbal full mask style for which Vamos Theatre is internationally renowned. Tim learned his part brilliantly, and performed that evening for the last night audience with joy and humour. Tim commented:
“Life fulfilling experiences like mine with Vamos Theatre only reinforce my desire to fight [my illness] and to enjoy all my adventures in the future. I don’t say this lightly, but it was one of the best days of my life.”
Director Rachael Savage added:
“Vamos Theatre makes all its productions in consultation with the public, tackling potentially dark subjects like end of life, dementia and PTSD with humour and empathy. Having Tim join us on stage was a part of this – celebrating and changing lives through the arts.”
To see a short film about Tim’s experience visit https://www.vamostheatre.co.uk/media/tims-story-dead-good-2022
For a limited time, this film is available to embed or download for press use from https://vimeo.com/687902695
To read Tim’s blog about the day, visit
https://www.vamostheatre.co.uk/blogs/real-life-adventures
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