Barbara’s Parlour is a mobile, roving and immersive theatrical experience sharing joy and promoting conversations around care. Targeting incidental audiences this pop-up politely interrupts your daily grind to give you a moment of fun and reflection. Audiences meet Barbara, Babs and Bea, a group of older ladies determined to reclaim our high streets, libraries and precincts to transform them into pockets for care and conversations.

If you pop along the ladies will take care of you, helping you escape the hustle and bustle of modern society for five or ten minutes. Expect frolics into correct etiquette, quiz experiences where you can beat out the competition and a few gentle, sweet serenades. The ladies also perform a spot of ‘market research’, inviting us all to have conversations about care. Audiences feedback around their experiences of care are transformed into a new musical song that gets performed in the Barbara show.

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We understand that a 10 minute conversation won’t fundamentally change a person, but it can make a difference to their day, bring some joy and allow them the space and support to consider care in a ways they might not have previously. Developed in consultation with Salford Institute for Dementia and Ageing’s Dementia Associates; a group of people living well with Dementia conditions. Barbara’s Parlour doesn’t target people with dementia or their carers, but creates surprise opportunities for people to have conversations around shared themes of care.