Seniors Housing & Healthcare Trends

MELBOURNE: Former aged care workers Marina Lee-Warner and Julie Joy have created a live show tailored to older Australians, including those facing cognitive decline.

They were inspired by a “loneliness epidemic” sweeping aged-care facilities, where 40 per cent of residents receive no visitors at all.

The duo is setting off on a tour of aged-care facilities across regional NSW.

Marina Lee-Warner is a woman of many talents — a marriage celebrant, an artist and a performer who is fiercely passionate about the arts and bringing entertainment to young and old.

But the woman known around her home in the New South Wales Upper Hunter as Sparkles the Clown also has a background in aged care, and her latest alter-ego might just be her most rewarding role yet.

Lee-Warner and fellow entertainer Julie Joy have created an original show, The Two Teabags, aimed squarely at aged care audiences.

The duo has been performing the “medley of Australiana references” across the Upper Hunter and has now received a Create NSW grant to take the show on the road.

The 2021 Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety estimated that up to 40 per cent of aged-care residents did not receive any visitors.

“I’ve been very moved by this epidemic of loneliness,” Lee-Warner said.

“So just to bring in that fun and joy and a bit of human touch and connection, I think is really important.”

Lee-Warner plays Marj, a cleaner who yearns for her glory days when she won the 1969 Miss Ty-Ya Duck Downs Showgirl competition.

Joy is Shirl, a tea lady whose “trolley full of fun” contains a peculiar mix of items from days gone by.

“It was important to find props that [the residents] could relate to … in a sense the play was built around the props,” Joy said.

“I was fixated on the rabbit trap — that had to be in it,” Lee-Warner said.

“I said, ‘Jules, how do we build a rabbit trap into the storyline?’

“Everybody joins in to debate what’s the best way to cook a rabbit.”

Joy, who also has a background in aged care, said the play was specifically designed to be enjoyed by all residents, including those with declining cognitive abilities.

“It’s enabling conversation, reminiscence, connection,” she said.

“It’s people turning to the person beside them, who might be from a completely different house or floor in a facility, and saying, ‘Did you have one of those?’ or, ‘I remember that.'”

Caitlyn Easey is the residential manager at HammondCare in Scone, where one of the first performances took place.

“It’s just wonderful — it just brings so much joy for them,” she said.

“I think those references back to their generation is what’s really special about it and quite different to other things we’ve had before.”

Along with playful quips and laugh-out-loud moments, the show also features sing-alongs to old classics such as Waltzing Matilda, and chair dancing for all abilities.

Joy’s background means she is well-versed in using music and movement as therapeutic tools.

“The show evolved from what was initially workshopped as just a series of games and activities into a storyline with the music and games built in,” she said.

Joy said the “mood-enhancing quality” of singing ensured its inclusion in the show.

“It forms so many different connections in the brain that you could have somebody who cannot speak a sentence, but they can sing a song,” she said.

And it’s not just the residents who enjoy the experience.

“We are just loving it,” Lee-Warner said.

“If I could do this for the rest of my life, I’d be very happy.”