’'I haven’t seen anything like it before. It was so unusual and wonderful – It took me back to being a child.'' Edward (85)

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This year South London Cares has been working with the Little Angel Theatre to coordinate performances of their new show Me and My Bird for our Love Your Neighbour friendship matches. So far they’ve performed to seven of our Love Your Neighbour matches in our older neighbours' homes. Here we share how they found the experience.

The Little Angel Theatre wants to ensure that its shows are accessible to everyone, including people who can't travel. The theatre works with groups who are currently underrepresented in its audiences and creates bespoke opportunities to welcome them into its programmes. That's where Me and My Bird comes in: a brilliant new show now being performed to people in living rooms, hospitals and care homes across London for free. When South London Cares found out about the project, we knew that it would be a wonderful activity for some of our Love Your Neighbour friendships. Here they share how much they enjoyed sharing this new and out of the ordinary experience together:

Edward (85): "It was wonderful – I haven’t seen anything like it before. It was so unusual and professional. It took me back to being a child and going to watch Punch & Judy with my parents at Southend. They 100% put their heart and soul into it, as if they were a part of it."

Sandra (39):  "I think I’m speaking for both Edward and myself when I say, we’ve had the most wonderful afternoon with Louisa and Carolyn. So sweet and I would completely recommend this to anyone really! Absolutely fabulous."

Theresa (73): ‘’The show was fantastic. We laughed and laughed and thoroughly enjoyed it! I loved dancing with the puppet on my chair.’’

Nora (73): ‘’I loved it! I’ve never seen a puppet show before and I thought it was amazing. It was lovely to see my grandson write his wishes in his little bird.’’

Emilie (29), ‘’It was a lovely and poetic break from our daily routines and what a luxury to have it performed at home – it was quite a special treat as Daisy wouldn’t have been able to go if she had to travel somewhere. Daisy told me how impressed she was by young people taking part in such interesting projects and that she imagined how hard it must be to get these things off the ground and funded. I think this testifies as to how much she enjoyed the play.’’

Fiona (26): "The puppetry performance was fantastic! Very cleverly produced and such a wonderful idea. Delcene thoroughly enjoyed it and it made such a lovely change for us both.’’

Delcene (87): "It’s so lovely I really enjoyed it. It made me feel so happy imagining going on a cruise with my granddaughter. I’m so glad to have experienced something different, rather than just watching the TV."

Emily (28), "It’s a beautiful show and I’m so grateful that we could be a part of it.’"

Arthur (80), "It was marvellous! I loved it – I’m young inside, see."

South London Cares would like to give a big thank you to The Little Angel Theatre for making this experience possible for our neighbours. 

You can find out more about the project here. And if you would like a taster of some of the magic, watch the video below: