Getting On with it
Another week, another outreach script is launched! On the 12th March we had a performance at London’s Almeida Theatre of
Audrey Ardington (Photo: Ben Kelly)
Getting On, telling the true stories of growing older in 21st century Britain. The project was a year in the making, funded by The Funding Network in April 2009, so it felt great to see it finally realised.
The script explores many ways in which older people in the UK are marginalised including discrimination at work, pensions not keeping up with the cost of living and isolation from the community. But it also has a great deal of humour and warmth, testament to the six people who told me their stories. These were performed with great skill by our six actors: Michael Bertenshaw, Barbara Kirby, Audrey Ardington, Stephanie Fayerman, Ruth Posner and Michael Cronin.
Photo by Ben Kelly (Almeida Theatre)
Ageing is an issue that all of us face on an everyday basis and because of this there was a high level of interest in the work, with the London performance booked out a week in advance (helped by a plug on LBC). The audience was made up of those working in older peoples’ services in borough and county councils; academics studying gerontology; human rights campaigners; those specifically advocating for older peoples’ rights and also our Patron, Jean Lambert MEP, who is massively supportive of our work.
Members of the iceandfire team with Jean Lambert (Photo: Kate Sole)
After a knackering Friday we set off for Bristol on Sunday afternoon ready for the West Country launch at the lovely Tobacco Factory: another sell out, hosted by Age Concern Bristol. They were instrumental in making the project happen and it was really satisfying to see so many people out at 8pm on a Sunday night supporting their work.
The success of the dual launch has already resulted in further requests for the script and we are expecting a lot of requests around October 1st, Older People’s Day. If it is of interest to you or your organisation you can find out more about booking a script here.
By Sara Masters, co-Artistic Director
Comments
Leave a comment