Another Goodbye is a gentle exploration into the inevitability of death that we all encounter at some point during our lives, and the challenges we may face when confronting life without someone we can’t imagine being without. Written and performed by Adie Mueller (Sandman and My Heart, My Heart: Live Poetry Jukebox), and directed by Anne Langford (The Old Vic and The Almeida), Another Goodbye was created after the passing of Adie’s mother at the age of 83, who had been suffering from a rare auto-immune disease. The piece follows Adie’s experience of her mother’s death and is a chance to engage in meaningful conversations about a topic that affects us all.
When Adie’s mother passed away in Germany in May 2020, it dawned upon her that she had been avoiding thinking about death, as she found it too difficult to talk about. She began to ask herself why death is such a taboo subject, despite its inevitability. Journalling about her journey through grief, she then turned these entries into an audio performance in 2021 which premiered at The Place Theatre, Bedford, and was later released on Touch Radio. During this time, she also received consultancy on the audio work from Dr Kathryn Mannix, author of With the End in Mind: Dying, Death and Wisdom in an Age of Denial.
Throughout this journey, Adie has spoken with many people in her local community, including palliative nurses and charity workers, who connected with the topic and opened up about their own experiences of grief. This outpouring of honesty inspired Adie to combine the live performance with a conversation, to allow people the opportunity to experience it collectively Adie’s moving piece will be performed at three locations across the UK, in partnership with local hospices; St Helena Hospice, Keech Hospice Care and Arthur Rank Hospice. The performance will follow Adie’s last moments with her mother and serves as a gateway to a guided discussion about death and end-of-life care, hosted by the hospices. The intention of the evening is to break down barriers around discussing death, as well as to engage with and highlight the amazing work of hospices and local support services.
Adie Mueller comments, Contrary to what many people may think, I’ve found the process of making the show and of talking about death incredibly life-affirming. When we tried out the show and conversation for the first time, the audience was buzzing! I’m hoping that coming to Another Goodbye will not only give audiences the opportunity to experience a beautiful, poetic piece of theatre, but also to connect with others, to feel more confident around loss and to feel a little more alive.
