THE Real People Theatre Company presents Sue Lister's play Dementia & Me at Clements Hall, Nunthorpe Road, York, on Sunday afternoon as part of the York 50+ Festival 2014.

"Dementia has become the new taboo subject after cancer," says writer-director Sue. "Yet people are finding ways of living with it to the best of their ability day by day and it's this resourcefulness and creativity that we need to tap into within ourselves."

Ann Murray plays the mother, Julia, and Sarah Wood, the daughter, Carole, while Sue has the role of the facilitator in a play that depicts the mother-daughter relationship as they respond as best as they can to dementia at three stages of its progression: on diagnosis; living with dementia at home; and the last stages in a care home.

"They share their inner thoughts and feelings at each stage, and we then invite audience discussions and the sharing of experiences as we explore ways of living and coping with dementia," says Sue, who is also the festival's director.

She presents Dementia & Me as a piece of "image theatre", using images as starting points for the facilitator to ask the mother and daughter questions at each stage of the storyline. "It's all a springboard to get people talking and sharing thoughts to make the community come together over the challenge of dementia," says Sue.

"What we're saying in this play is that we know these are going to happen as dementia progresses but how we going to make life with dementia something positive, because otherwise we're doomed."

Tickets for the 2pm show cost £4, concessions £3, on the door.