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Pam Schweitzer (born 29 May 1945) is a writer, theatre director, trainer and lecturer. She grew up in a middle class Jewish family in Hale, near Manchester.
Following many years teaching and writing about theatre in Education and Education Drama, Pam became fascinated by Reminiscence and Oral History.
She has devoted about 30 years to recording and preserving the memories of older people about the social history of the 20th century. These recorded memories were the basis for numerous shows which were toured back to old people’s homes and centres and each show was accompanied by a book. So, Pam has created and directed 30 professional theatre productions, which have toured nationally and internationally, and she has produced books of edited reminiscences and photos collected during the research periods. Some examples of Pam’s work could be “Fifty Years Ago”, “A Place to Stay”, “My first Job”, “Good morning Children”, “Goodnight Children Everywhere”, “Across the Irish Sea” and “What Did You Do In The War, Mum?”
Regarding “What Did You Do In The War, Mum?”, this theatre production was created to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the end of World War II. The play was based on 60 women’s interviews concerning their wartime work and, for the first time, some contributors directed their own scenes.
Equally, the book of the same name tells the story of women’s work and lives during the First and especially the Second World Wars. At the time, a whole new range of activities suddenly became open to women and the book reveals how they overcame difficulties.
Pam Schweitzer opened the world’s first Reminiscence centre in London in 1987 as a meeting place for people of all generations and cultures to participate in reminiscence projects. She has supported other Reminiscence centres and also founded the European Reminiscence Network with partners in different European countries.
One spectacular thing that should be mentioned is that Pam works with people with dementia.
Together with their relatives they focus on remembering and sharing their lives.
Once in an interview, when Pam was asked about how she selects people and their lives and memories, she answered: “I am not interested in oral history that just locks up memory; I am interested in it as a story and as a repository for future work. I’m committed to breaking down disciplinary boundaries between history, theatre and memory”.
VICTORIA LAVRENIUC AND LOURDES SÁNCHEZ
Websites:
FORUM
FORUM
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