Theatre group celebrates after winning award

The Parky Players had a successful six-show stop in Edinburgh

A theatre group for people with Parkinson's is celebrating after picking up an award at the Edinburgh Fringe festival.

Parky Players, based in Beeston in Nottinghamshire, spent much of last week in the Scottish capital performing their sketch show, Shaken not Stirred, about the modern-day challenges of living with Parkinson's.

It won the Garry Robson Memorial Award on Sunday at the Neurodiverse Review Awards, which aim to recognise disabled and neurodiverse acts at the Fringe.

Janet Shipton, who was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 2018 when she was 47, said the successful run was "beyond our dreams".

"It went really well," she said.

"We did six performances - we went two years ago, but we only did three then, this time it was bigger and better.

"We had very good crowds over all six shows, and we thank them loads."

Parky Players received nearly £12,000 in a grant from the UK Shared Prosperity Funding to help fund their run, and also raised more than £12,000 from other sources.

They won the inaugural Garry Robson Award, which has been created to honour the legacy of the actor and producer who died earlier this year.

Sheila North began Parky Players - which are playing a homecoming show at the Victoria in Beeston on 24 September - during the coronavirus pandemic with Ms Shipton.

She said the group had taken over her life "in a brilliant way", and hopes their Edinburgh run will help to raise awareness of what it is like for people living with Parkinson's.

"It's tough, and the longer you've had it the tougher it gets," she said.

"It's a silent condition - people don't see it, and it's hard to live with."

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