Lucy C Hayward

The Promise is a striking piece of theatre. It explores that point when older people experience conditions which affect how they cope with their personal well-being. What I found most concerning was the lack of knowledge Rita’s son had of her current circumstances. It was explained by an argument and him moving away but having a disability myself and knowing how hard I have to fight to access appropriate support I was surprised by the son's lack of determination to put adequate support in place for his mother. This is the story of so many people who are reliant on care homes and end-of-life care. Being blind I was unable to read the captions so I worked out the story from the residual images I could pick up and the extracts of dialogue used by certain cast members.

Throughout ‘The Promise’ Rita played by Anna Seymour had my attention. The way she portrayed Rita, is a rollercoaster of emotion, sad at the beginning, loving and fun at her house then slowly unravelling as the life she worked so hard for was taken away. This was not just the story of an older person being abandoned. Rita was a teacher who supported deaf children to access education and independence. In the final years of her life, her family and the local council took away all that was important to her, they muted her voice, took away her independence and refused to offer her a comfortable and respectable place for her to end her days. It is challenging enough to live as a disabled person but to be patronized by carers when you are struggling to understand a medical condition which is affecting what has been a normal routine for the last 50 years and to not be able to use your everyday language to communicate. I was appalled beyond belief

Paula Garfield has written a beautiful piece of theatre. I was especially impressed because I was unable to access information via captions. Rita's journey is experienced by a large percentage of people living over the age of 70 in the UK. The Promise is a play which represents a section of disabled people in the UK pinpointing the importance of educating those in end-of-life care on how to develop their skills so that they can support the deaf community at this point in life.