Last week was child bereavement awareness week. Prince William spoke at Child Bereavement UK’s 21st Birthday celebrations – you can hear his words on grief, here.
CBUK is a nationwide charity supporting those who are living the struggles portrayed in our upcoming production of Staying Alive – they support children who have lost a loved one, as well as grieving parents. It’s great to see Prince William speaking out on the great and long-lasting impact that bereavement has on all those effected.
In preparation for Staying Alive, the cast and I have been reading around the topic of grief and child bereavement (with thanks to Nic Whitworth from SLOW bereavement charity, for the recommendations).
Some of the books we’ve been reading are:
Billy, Me & You: A Memoir of Grief and Recovery by Nicola Streeten
Wave: A Memoir of Life After the Tsunami by Sonali Deraniyagala
The spiritual life of bereaved parents by Dennis Klass
Grieving Garden: Living with the Death of a Child – Twenty Two Parents Share Their Stories by Suzanne Redfern and Susan Gilbert
The Death of a Child by Peter Stanford
Levels of Life by julian barnes
Kadian Journal by Thomas Harding
You can read more about the work that SLOW, the bereavement charity that helped us with the research and development of Staying Alive, does on their website.
You can also get a good insight into the nature of grief, by reading this article on the CBUK website.
- Ellie, Director of Blackshaw Theatre
Blackshaw Theatre 