Play about dementia in black community can 'start discussion'

Part of the creative team behind a new play about the impact of dementia on a black British family hope it can provoke a conversation about the disease, which disproportionately affects black Britons.

- Lanre Bakare

Miss Myrtle's Garden is part of Lynette Linton's final season at the Bush theatre in west London, and the artistic director said the "beautiful and heart-wrenching" production was an important opportunity to discuss the havoc dementia causes.

A report in 2022 found that black people had a 22% higher incidence of dementia recorded than white people in the UK.

The play will be directed by Linton's successor, Taio Lawson, and is written by Danny James King. Linton said: "Dementia, particularly in the black community and in the Caribbean community, is a conversation that we need to talk about more. It's affecting so many people... let's talk about it now and let's give people the support they need."