At our interim event in March we would like to explore the following themes:

• Reflections on practices that propose creative ways of exploring age (cultural, social or political)
• Theatre and performance at, for, or with, different ages and life stages.
• The interrelationship between age and applied theatre practice, particularly in challenging age as a normative category and interrogating stereotypes of age and aging.

The theme of this event arises from discussions about the social, cultural, political, and philosophical dimensions of age(s) and age(ing) which began to emerge at the last TaPRA conference. We think there is a value in exploring this with greater focus, particularly examining the role of age in contemporary culture. Within the broader context of thinking both about the way age is often characterised (‘age is wisdom’, ‘age is weakness’, ‘age is a process’, ‘age is an illusion’) and in the way it acts as description for an era or epoch (‘age of enlightenment’, ‘digital age’), this event will offer presentations and provocations that explore questions of:

• Creative ageing;
• Participation in, and barriers to involvement in, arts and creative work based on age;
• ‘Longevity’ and the notion that everyone is always in a process of ‘ageing’ – how might this serve to challenge the separation of creative work based on age from other forms of art practice?
• The ways that age influences how an individual might experience participatory drama.

The event will include presentations by a number of invited presenters: Sheila McCormick – Applied Theatre: Creative Ageing, London: Methuen, (Forthcoming, 2017) Gary Anderson: On children and age(s), The Institute for the Art and Practice of Dissent at Home David Grant and Jenny Elliot – Creative ageing and nursing For the full schedule of the event, please see here. Attendance at the event is free to TaPRA members, and £10 for non-members.