Was ich vergessen habe (What I’ve forgotten)

«They’re trapped in the moment. It’s possible that they don’t recognise their closest relatives and don’t know how to use a fork. People with dementia seem confused but they want to be part of a community and can only do so if they aren’t sitting on their own in a room nodding off. In the dementia village Baan Kamlangchay they live together as members of a village community. Dementia does not mean that people have to be isolated.» Jürgen Berger

Journalist Jürgen Berger and Polish director Anna Karasińska set off on a voyage of discovery for an evening of theatre that examines the illnesses that cause dementia and the challenges that these bring for relatives and carers.  Their research takes them to Baan Kamlangchay on the outskirts of the city of Chiang Mai in Thailand. A home has been created here where there is no nursing crisis: all the German and Swiss guests have three carers, often they require fewer drugs and their life expectancy is also increased. Yet the costs of care are by no means as high as in Germany.

«Memory fascinates me as a magical connection between everything we think of as human. Losing it not only means losing relationships, but also losing your identity and your connection with the entire universe of meaning. This is also what I’m trying to do in my theatre work: to give the audience the opportunity to question accepted narratives about what reality is. The world of Baan Kamlangchay does precisely this: it promises a wonderfully beautiful solution to the problem of caring for dementia patients. Yet life there consists of the same situations that arise between all dementia patients, their families and carers, and demonstrates their absurdity as well as the fragility of human existence.» Anna Karasińska