A TRAVELLING theatre company is aiming to make audiences laugh while raising awareness of an incurable and life-limiting disease.

A Ship of Fools, starring Colchester Institute tutor Mark Winstanley, aims to inform audiences about Huntington’s Disease, which affected the father of theatrical director Charles Shetcliffe.

The disease is hereditary and Mr Shetcliffe also has the gene which causes the neurological disease.

He said his father, David, went undiagnosed for months before doctors finally told him he had Huntington’s.

Mr Shetcliffe said: “At first, he would have outbursts of anger and at the time we did not know what was wrong with him.

“His legs also started to deteriorate badly, and he was living in a small flat at the time, so really struggled to get up and down the stairs.

“He ended up splitting up with his girlfriend because of it and it was such an unhappy time for him.

“When we did eventually find out he had Huntington’s, it brought the family together and we could help him as best we could.”

Mr Shetcliffe died in 2011.

The theatre company first met at Paris theatre school Ecole Philippe Gaulier, whose alumni include Sasha Baron Cohen, Helena Bonham Carter and Emma Thompson.

Mr Winstanley is delighted to be working with the Huntington’s Disease Association on the tour.

He said: “We are trying to raise as much awareness as possible because before I met Charles I had never heard of it.

“There is no cure and funding is needed to start doing research.”

The show, entitled From the Cradle to the Bin, also deals with themes of neglect in the care system in a sensitive and funny manner.

Mr Winstanley said: “I used to work in a care home and the show tries to encourage people who have family members in the system not to forget about them.

“It is amazing how many people who you knew had a family but were never visited.

These people are still human beings.”

The show is at St Martin’s Church, in West Stockwell Street, Colchester, on June 12 and 13. For tickets, call 07891 016240.