Making Headway has been born from experts who have lived experience of brain injury. It was written by a professional playwright and author, Pete Barrett, who has volunteered for Headway Essex for over 20 years.
The play exposes how hard life can be following brain injury, and how it is often made harder by other peoples’ reactions. Using vignettes, it features hard hitting scenarios around the roles of carers, brain injury survivors and educates the audience through a gripping narrative.
The play was supported and endorsed by The University of Essex and is being used as an educational tool for health and social care students, with its first performance to 150 students receiving outstanding feedback. It has toured Essex with moving feedback from clients, carers and professionals offering lightbulb moments of education and understanding to those who see it.
What’s the impact?
The purpose of Making Headway was to educate people on what it is like to be a brain injury survivor and to become a carer. Brain injury is little understood and often mistaken for other conditions, mental ill health, or even just challenging behaviour.
This project aims to break down these barriers and enables the viewer to have an immersive educational theatrical experience; produced in such a way that you feel it’s a real situation playing out in front of you. Following a week of research and development, The Packing Shed Theatre Company and Play Producer worked hard with Headway to create a unique balance between drama, humour and compassion.
After the University performance, workshops took place with actors staying in character, this enabled students to share their feelings and ask questions about the condition. Many reflected that brain injury was not an area they had considered specialising in but, because of the play, may wish to in the future.
“In collaboration with the University of Essex, Headway Essex presented at the 14th World Congress on Brain Injury in Dublin, further flying the Headway flag. We believe we are the first Headway Group to have done this.
“We spoke of how innovation in drama can train health and social care therapists to have a greater understanding of the brain injury condition and raising awareness of brain injury. It was a well-received presentation, and we are now part of a research project to validate the play as an educational tool.
“Funding has been sought to take the play on tour to three other universities. We will link into the local Headway groups in each of the university areas. Alongside the university performance will be a local Headway performance, so that the local group can use this to promote their services and brain injury message in their area.
“In the next phase of development, there will be the filming of the whole play. Whilst we are committed to this being a live immersive theatrical production, the screening will give scope for more to see the production.”
(Joanna Wright, CEO Headway Essex)
“Making Headway exposes key issues about life after brain injury with humorous and poignant windows into the lives of survivors. An outstanding project I have been proud to be part of.”
“A very emotional watch. I laughed and cried, and it really touched me. I totally related to the carers in the play and felt it reflected my life.”
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