Community Conversations: The Dead Curious Cafe

Let’s be honest. One day we are all going to die. And yet it remains one of the few topics many of us politely avoid in everyday conversation. The Dead Curious Café is here to change that… gently, curiously, and with plenty of cake.
This summer, This Mortal Life is teaming up with the Front Room Theatre in Weston-Super-Mare to host a series of relaxed, and perhaps a bit cheeky, community conversation cafés. They are for anyone who has ever found themselves even slightly curious about mortality but doesn’t always have a place to explore those thoughts out loud.
Across three Sunday afternoons, 3-5pm, we’ll gather for drinks, conversation and some very good cake. These unique cafés will provide you an opportunity to explore topics you're likely not thinking about on a day-to-day basis. In rounds, provided by the brilliant Good Mourning Society Memento card decks, these prompts will provide thought-provoking questions to explore how we find meaning in our present life, our attitudes around death and what legacy means to us.
One table might be swapping stories about unusual funerals, and getting ideas for their own. Someone might be wondering, for the first time, who would deal with their digital life if they died tomorrow. Someone else might realise they’ve never actually told anyone what music they’d want played at their funeral…and they have VERY specific opinions on the matter.
And yes, it’s entirely possible someone will eventually ask the important questions, like who’s going to deal with my secret box under my bed?
The bar at the Front Room will be open throughout the afternoon, serving a range of hot and cold drinks along with a variety of delicious cakes and snacks. Gluten-free and dairy-free options will also be available, so no one has to face existential questions on an empty stomach.
Everyone who attends will also receive a free planning guide to take home. It’s designed to help you continue reflecting on the things that matter most to you, and perhaps start putting a few of those important life-and-death plans in place in your own time.
The Dead Curious Café is aimed at adults, ages 16 to 106 welcome. Tickets are free, with donations welcome on the night to help support future community events like these. The series will be hosted by Esther Hall of This Mortal Life, creating a welcoming space where people can explore mortality with honesty, humour and curiosity.
Because sometimes the best way to think about life, is to talk a little more openly about death.
Come along. Grab a drink. Eat some cake. And get a little dead curious.

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Host or Publisher Esther Hall