September 26, 2022 • 15 mins
With Melissa Johns (Karen), Marlene Sidaway (Silva), Shaparak Khorsandi (Brain), and Cyril Nri (Mark).
What's it like playing Brain? Why is the play important? Was it fun to be in? Silva Lining's Care Play Writer and Director Elspeth Penny chatted to the actors behind the scenes.
Interviews transcribed and ordered by Nick Sutton
Edited by Iain Hunter
Music by Sarah Moody
Thanks to Lois Barton
Directed and Produced by Elspeth Penny
A 2BU Productions work
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:12):
the cast of the audio drama Silver linings Care plan reflect on the role of the carer in today's society we hear from Marlene Sideway who played Silva Cyril NRI who played her son,
Mark chapa Rocco Sandi,
who played Brain and melissa johns who played Karen the carer for me,
(00:36):
Care is about making sure that the person you are caring for is the absolute center of what needs to be done for me.
It's about dignity.
And I think that's why I even find it hard saying Carer,
(00:57):
I almost like using different words,
maybe supporter or assistant or something that really shows that when you are being a carer in in in in inverted commas,
is that you are there to make sure that the person at the center of this is leading,
(01:22):
they are getting everything that they want and need and you are there to support that you are not there to take away their dignity or their independence.
You're there to enhance their dignity and their independence and also to make things personal.
(01:42):
The value of care in this society is under valued because as people deteriorate,
shall we say,
those that are left to look after them at the very end seem to be,
are taken for granted and the value of the person disintegrating diminishes to society.
(02:09):
Therefore,
the role of the carer is huge to make sure that that person still has the the degree of care and is given dignity and the human rights that they deserve just as much now as when they were hop skipping and jumping and contributing perhaps financially to society or practically to society.
(02:38):
Those aren't the only two contributions one can make,
I believe,
well,
the value of care in society is what's the point of living without care.
You know,
I don't really see that it actually needs to be addressed as as a question.
(02:59):
It shouldn't even come up.
If we don't take care of those around us who who need it,
then there's really no point in living.
It's just a a selfish exercise.
(03:21):
Well,
I think it sort of comes in two different ways really.
There's a kind of professional carers who are part of a care home,
a residential care home carers who go and visit people in their homes and also family carers and I think they all have to be integrated and and with knowledge of the patient.
(03:49):
I think that it would be really useful if there were a few conversations that came out of this play.
I think that it would be really exciting if we could enter into a world that didn't feel like the idea of caring for people or the idea of people with certain conditions was something to be feared.
(04:11):
I think it should be something that we feel we can be really open on our language about the thing with illness or disability is it's it's an underrepresented group that we often,
you know,
don't talk about.
We have lots of underrepresented groups in society and disability or long term condition is one of them because we fear it a lot.
(04:38):
And it's funny because it's the one that can happen to any of us actually,
just because you weren't born with a disability or you weren't born with an illness or you weren't born with a condition,
it's actually sort of one of the underrepresented groups that could happen to you at any point in your life.
And so it would be really lovely for us to move away from the idea that this is something to be feared,
(05:03):
and actually this is something that we need to embrace in life and look at ways of making it okay to talk about making it so that when a relative gets a phone call or is in an appointment and,
you know,
gets told that someone they love has dementia or someone gets told themselves they have dementia that we know we can live in an accessible world that is ready to take that on in the right way and make sure that that person can continue to live their life exactly how they want to live it.
(05:42):
I think what I would,
the conversation I would most like to this play is a conversation with oneself and really looking at the idea that people have an inner voice going on,
and it's about tuning into what might possibly be going on inside that person and getting away from oneself and one's needs and the inconvenience of um of your own everyday needs,
(06:18):
because we're all rushing around doing stuff,
particularly as younger people are,
younger generation were rushing around doing stuff,
paying the bills,
getting this done,
getting that and it's inconvenient to have somebody who has this inner voices,
inner pain going on.
And I suppose what,
(06:38):
what would come out of this is that we get to hear that other voice,
we get to hear what's going on behind the scenes.
(06:59):
I really enjoyed playing silver because the possibilities that I've just described were,
you know,
it kept me thinking,
yeah,
it might be possible and what would happen in the future,
but who would make all the big decisions And does that mean that people with all their intellect would go on and on for many years longer than we do now.
(07:20):
And even now our life expectancy is infinitely more than it was 100 years ago or more.
And so if we get all of our outward things,
if we can get them replaced,
why not get the brain replaced?
You know,
it's anything is possible really,
(07:41):
but would it make too much of a difference?
Would it make more problems than it solves?
I think Karen has the best intentions,
I think she wants to kill a lot of birds with one stone,
I think she genuinely wants to be the best carer?
I think she wants to do right by silver.
I think that she wants silver to live the rest of her days in the best way that she possibly can.
(08:09):
I feel like with Karen,
there's never just one driving force.
I think that she has a few different driving forces and that comes across a lot in the way that she speaks quite often.
She'll jump from one thing to another.
You know,
she'll,
this is what I need to do.
Oh no,
this is what I need to do.
You know,
it will,
her thoughts will jump around quite a lot and I think that's because she doesn't just have one driving force in life.
(08:33):
I think she has a few driving forces.
I think that she absolutely wants to make sure that she is a good person in other people's books.
I think that she wants to make sure that she is caring for people properly.
I think she wants to make her mom proud.
(08:54):
Look at me,
mom,
see what I can do.
I think the character Mark for me is one which I relate to greatly,
you know,
he's trying to do his best,
(09:15):
he's trying to,
he's trying to carry on with his life.
There is both the want to have,
you know,
the best form of care,
the best um to be able to help the person that's suffering.
But there is also as with all of us,
(09:37):
a place where you just want to get on with your own life and it's it's difficult.
So there is a there is an argument going on and nobody intends to be officious or impatient or intolerant,
(09:58):
but what happens is you get all that mix up going and I think Mark has that,
I think he cares for his mom,
but he also would prefer to have a mom who didn't go through that,
who doesn't need that amount of of attention.
(10:21):
I loved playing brain.
That was so much fun.
That was a lot of fun to be something human but not human and not have to worry about your normal human anxieties and the character.
Brain is all of us.
The only difference between brain and us is that brain doesn't have a body.
(10:45):
Brain doesn't have a face,
but brain is as desperate to cling onto life as the rest of us are.
Brain is the frustration,
the terror we all have perhaps,
(11:07):
of being misunderstood or being alone and unable to survive alone.
So,
I think brain is a mixture of terror and longing and what we take for granted.
You know,
brain knows what we take for granted,
which is our bodies and our ability to be taken seriously.
(11:42):
It's a difficult one because brain doesn't have history.
Brain doesn't have memories.
Brain has knowledge and is learning and is growing,
but only from a starting point.
That's not that far back.
(12:02):
There's something about the way that we communicate with people where you do know about their memories and the lives they've lived.
So,
for me,
I I think that it's possibly slightly harder to connect with brain in the sense that it's something that's feels a bit more factual,
(12:25):
rather than human brain is the absolute fear that that I have of one day being physically unable to express what's on my mind,
like not being able to speak,
not being able to wipe my bum,
but my brain working as usual,
(12:46):
that I think is a horrific situation to be in.
And and how much we don't know,
like when we talk about somebody being in a coma,
we don't know what's going on for them in their mind.
I don't know when I was holding my grandmother's hand as she was dying,
and she was squeezing my hand.
I didn't know she could hear us telling her that we loved her.
I didn't know whether she was intentionally squeezing my hand or not having absolutely no way of knowing how someone's brain is actually working.
(13:16):
And computing things is terrifying.
So,
I I would say that brain is is a part of,
you know,
fears that I would rather just turn my back on.
Well,
I I think that the play has so much going for it,
(13:37):
and I think this great possibility of what might happen,
what could happen in the future when one looks back at what has happened in the past,
and great sort of breakthroughs of knowledge about the way our our bodies work and our brains work.
And it's always any kind of exploration Gives you kind of food for thought,
(14:03):
I think.
And things that might,
you know,
500,
years ago,
might have seemed totally impossible.
Are quite normal nowadays.
And it it's almost as if you could think well,
you know,
in 100 years time,
what silver is dreaming about imagining and working towards might well be possible.
(14:28):
You don't know.
So when I when I read the play by myself,
it seems so sad and frightening.
But today reading altogether because obviously plays are meant to be read out loud.
It just seemed so funny despite the darkness of it.
(14:50):
There's a lot of there's a lot of humor which is for me that you know,
they're the best way to connect as human beings with humor.
And the play just came out as as absolutely wonderful and in touch with who we are under all the nonsense and we're very simple.
(15:18):
It's very simple.
Take care of me,
Hear Me I need you.
the cast of the audio drama Silver linings Care plan reflect on the role of the carer in today's society we hear from Marlene Sideway who played Silva Cyril NRI who played her son,
Mark chapa Rocco Sandi,
who played Brain and melissa johns who played Karen the carer for me,
(00:36):
Care is about making sure that the person you are caring for is the absolute center of what needs to be done for me.
It's about dignity.
And I think that's why I even find it hard saying Carer,
(00:57):
I almost like using different words,
maybe supporter or assistant or something that really shows that when you are being a carer in in in in inverted commas,
is that you are there to make sure that the person at the center of this is leading,
(01:22):
they are getting everything that they want and need and you are there to support that you are not there to take away their dignity or their independence.
You're there to enhance their dignity and their independence and also to make things personal.
(01:42):
The value of care in this society is under valued because as people deteriorate,
shall we say,
those that are left to look after them at the very end seem to be,
are taken for granted and the value of the person disintegrating diminishes to society.
(02:09):
Therefore,
the role of the carer is huge to make sure that that person still has the the degree of care and is given dignity and the human rights that they deserve just as much now as when they were hop skipping and jumping and contributing perhaps financially to society or practically to society.
(02:38):
Those aren't the only two contributions one can make,
I believe,
well,
the value of care in society is what's the point of living without care.
You know,
I don't really see that it actually needs to be addressed as as a question.
(02:59):
It shouldn't even come up.
If we don't take care of those around us who who need it,
then there's really no point in living.
It's just a a selfish exercise.
(03:21):
Well,
I think it sort of comes in two different ways really.
There's a kind of professional carers who are part of a care home,
a residential care home carers who go and visit people in their homes and also family carers and I think they all have to be integrated and and with knowledge of the patient.
(03:49):
I think that it would be really useful if there were a few conversations that came out of this play.
I think that it would be really exciting if we could enter into a world that didn't feel like the idea of caring for people or the idea of people with certain conditions was something to be feared.
(04:11):
I think it should be something that we feel we can be really open on our language about the thing with illness or disability is it's it's an underrepresented group that we often,
you know,
don't talk about.
We have lots of underrepresented groups in society and disability or long term condition is one of them because we fear it a lot.
(04:38):
And it's funny because it's the one that can happen to any of us actually,
just because you weren't born with a disability or you weren't born with an illness or you weren't born with a condition,
it's actually sort of one of the underrepresented groups that could happen to you at any point in your life.
And so it would be really lovely for us to move away from the idea that this is something to be feared,
(05:03):
and actually this is something that we need to embrace in life and look at ways of making it okay to talk about making it so that when a relative gets a phone call or is in an appointment and,
you know,
gets told that someone they love has dementia or someone gets told themselves they have dementia that we know we can live in an accessible world that is ready to take that on in the right way and make sure that that person can continue to live their life exactly how they want to live it.
(05:42):
I think what I would,
the conversation I would most like to this play is a conversation with oneself and really looking at the idea that people have an inner voice going on,
and it's about tuning into what might possibly be going on inside that person and getting away from oneself and one's needs and the inconvenience of um of your own everyday needs,
(06:18):
because we're all rushing around doing stuff,
particularly as younger people are,
younger generation were rushing around doing stuff,
paying the bills,
getting this done,
getting that and it's inconvenient to have somebody who has this inner voices,
inner pain going on.
And I suppose what,
(06:38):
what would come out of this is that we get to hear that other voice,
we get to hear what's going on behind the scenes.
(06:59):
I really enjoyed playing silver because the possibilities that I've just described were,
you know,
it kept me thinking,
yeah,
it might be possible and what would happen in the future,
but who would make all the big decisions And does that mean that people with all their intellect would go on and on for many years longer than we do now.
(07:20):
And even now our life expectancy is infinitely more than it was 100 years ago or more.
And so if we get all of our outward things,
if we can get them replaced,
why not get the brain replaced?
You know,
it's anything is possible really,
(07:41):
but would it make too much of a difference?
Would it make more problems than it solves?
I think Karen has the best intentions,
I think she wants to kill a lot of birds with one stone,
I think she genuinely wants to be the best carer?
I think she wants to do right by silver.
I think that she wants silver to live the rest of her days in the best way that she possibly can.
(08:09):
I feel like with Karen,
there's never just one driving force.
I think that she has a few different driving forces and that comes across a lot in the way that she speaks quite often.
She'll jump from one thing to another.
You know,
she'll,
this is what I need to do.
Oh no,
this is what I need to do.
You know,
it will,
her thoughts will jump around quite a lot and I think that's because she doesn't just have one driving force in life.
(08:33):
I think she has a few driving forces.
I think that she absolutely wants to make sure that she is a good person in other people's books.
I think that she wants to make sure that she is caring for people properly.
I think she wants to make her mom proud.
(08:54):
Look at me,
mom,
see what I can do.
I think the character Mark for me is one which I relate to greatly,
you know,
he's trying to do his best,
(09:15):
he's trying to,
he's trying to carry on with his life.
There is both the want to have,
you know,
the best form of care,
the best um to be able to help the person that's suffering.
But there is also as with all of us,
(09:37):
a place where you just want to get on with your own life and it's it's difficult.
So there is a there is an argument going on and nobody intends to be officious or impatient or intolerant,
(09:58):
but what happens is you get all that mix up going and I think Mark has that,
I think he cares for his mom,
but he also would prefer to have a mom who didn't go through that,
who doesn't need that amount of of attention.
(10:21):
I loved playing brain.
That was so much fun.
That was a lot of fun to be something human but not human and not have to worry about your normal human anxieties and the character.
Brain is all of us.
The only difference between brain and us is that brain doesn't have a body.
(10:45):
Brain doesn't have a face,
but brain is as desperate to cling onto life as the rest of us are.
Brain is the frustration,
the terror we all have perhaps,
(11:07):
of being misunderstood or being alone and unable to survive alone.
So,
I think brain is a mixture of terror and longing and what we take for granted.
You know,
brain knows what we take for granted,
which is our bodies and our ability to be taken seriously.
(11:42):
It's a difficult one because brain doesn't have history.
Brain doesn't have memories.
Brain has knowledge and is learning and is growing,
but only from a starting point.
That's not that far back.
(12:02):
There's something about the way that we communicate with people where you do know about their memories and the lives they've lived.
So,
for me,
I I think that it's possibly slightly harder to connect with brain in the sense that it's something that's feels a bit more factual,
(12:25):
rather than human brain is the absolute fear that that I have of one day being physically unable to express what's on my mind,
like not being able to speak,
not being able to wipe my bum,
but my brain working as usual,
(12:46):
that I think is a horrific situation to be in.
And and how much we don't know,
like when we talk about somebody being in a coma,
we don't know what's going on for them in their mind.
I don't know when I was holding my grandmother's hand as she was dying,
and she was squeezing my hand.
I didn't know she could hear us telling her that we loved her.
I didn't know whether she was intentionally squeezing my hand or not having absolutely no way of knowing how someone's brain is actually working.
(13:16):
And computing things is terrifying.
So,
I I would say that brain is is a part of,
you know,
fears that I would rather just turn my back on.
Well,
I I think that the play has so much going for it,
(13:37):
and I think this great possibility of what might happen,
what could happen in the future when one looks back at what has happened in the past,
and great sort of breakthroughs of knowledge about the way our our bodies work and our brains work.
And it's always any kind of exploration Gives you kind of food for thought,
(14:03):
I think.
And things that might,
you know,
500,
years ago,
might have seemed totally impossible.
Are quite normal nowadays.
And it it's almost as if you could think well,
you know,
in 100 years time,
what silver is dreaming about imagining and working towards might well be possible.
(14:28):
You don't know.
So when I when I read the play by myself,
it seems so sad and frightening.
But today reading altogether because obviously plays are meant to be read out loud.
It just seemed so funny despite the darkness of it.
(14:50):
There's a lot of there's a lot of humor which is for me that you know,
they're the best way to connect as human beings with humor.
And the play just came out as as absolutely wonderful and in touch with who we are under all the nonsense and we're very simple.
(15:18):
It's very simple.
Take care of me,
Hear Me I need you.
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