We record the memories of care home residents and use these to create scripts which develop into original professional theatre productions.
We provide meaningful therapeutic engagement for older people living with dementia.
Our interactive workshops encourage residents to reflect on the present day, and their thoughts and pearls of wisdom are included in our shows.
Their voices provide the backdrop to our shows which are animated comically and beautifully by our actors.
Our Background
Established by Peter Ward in October 2024 as a Community Interest Company, the work builds on the two shows he conceived and produced for Nwoko Arts CIC - Spring into Summer and Songs for Europe.
He is known for his work as Director/CEO of Hope Street Limited, an arts organisation dedicated to the development of artists and arts in the community. Hundreds of its alumni established their own companies and included Tmesis, 20 Stories High and Wake the Beast.
In 2007, he founded the Creative Organisations of Liverpool (COoL) - the forerunner to the Culture Network) - leading it for its first seven years. The collective provided a voice for the small/medium arts sector in Liverpool.
The inspiration for setting up That Theatre Group was during the pandemic when he saw the loneliness experienced by older people living in care, who continued to be isolated long after the rest of us were free to go back to our ‘normal’ lives.
His first hand experience of his loved one, Graeme Phillips, who lived in care from 2021 until his death in August 2025, provided the fuel to do something to bring some joy to older people and to remind them that they’d not been forgotten.
In May 2024 That Theatre Group produced Graeme’s revival of ‘Krapp’s Last Tape’ by Samuel Beckett, of which he said, “I wanted to bring my experience of isolation, reflection and living with Parkinson’s Disease & Lewy Body Dementia to the text.” He was known to many as Artistic Director of Liverpool’s Unity Theatre (1982-2015).
