“Four Funerals in One Day” launched to much acclaim!

The 9th National Palliative Care Conference conducted in Melbourne in the last week of August 2007 was attended by many international, national and local members of palliative care services in addition to members from other health and academic specialties. Attendees were provided with a feast of contemporary information and research, but were also treated to the premiere of the play “Four Funerals in One Day”. Written by Alan Hopgood in collaboration with Molly Carlile, the play explores the role of story telling in palliative care.
“Karen is a community nurse caring for her first dying patient. Clarrie has had enough of being a burden on his family and wants to die now. Vi is tired and bad tempered and wondering why she stays working in palliative care, particularly as she has her own problems at home and Sue is walking the fine line of acting as a mentor for junior staff and supporting a colleague who isn’t coping. Four Funerals in One Day is a performance piece that explores the human reality for patients and professional carers living and dying in palliative care.”
In her introduction, Molly spoke about how Alan used his skills as a playwright to combine elements of her personal experiences as a clinician with fiction to create a performance piece that would get the audience thinking about the importance of their own stories and those of their patients. “Four Funerals in One Day does not aim to present a “best practice model” of palliative care”, she said, “but at it’s core is the need for us all to embrace the influence of other peoples stories on the development of our own personal and professional life story”.
The impact of the play was tangible as the audience laughed loudly when they recognised elements of themselves and their colleagues in the characters. Many admitted later that they cried at times as well! The professional actors Babs McMillan, Margot Knight, Michelle Hall and Alan Hopgood, played their roles with empathy and humour and managed to hold the audience captive until the final curtain fell. Loud applause and long discussions followed over a glass of wine at the “Happy Hour” as people talked about their own experiences.
Developing and presenting Four Funerals in One Day as a keynote presentation at a National Conference was a gamble for the sponsors (North and West Metro Region Palliative Care Consortium, Southern Metro Region Palliative Care Consortium and PCV), for the authors, for the performers and for the Organising Committee, but it was a gamble that paid off. It proved that often the best way of imparting a message is by using the most ancient of techniques………………..telling a story.

“Absolutely fantastic. As a nurse for over 40 years I could identify with so much! Thankyou for the insight into the work of palliative care.”
“Excellent-it was wonderful. Such a wonderful way to get a message across, I was able to relate to it all.”
“It was fantastic! I laughed, I cried. Thanks!”
“Well done. I loved it; thought provoking, easy to understand for general audiences, moving. Great way to raise awareness. A good teaching tool”
“Brilliantly executed. Thought provoking & humorous yet very serious messages.”
Kevin Larkins
Executive Officer
Palliative Care Victoria
(Article taken from Palliative Care Victoria Newsletter No 75. October 2007)