Research at Keele Discovering Excellence | Page 14
Professor Michael Murray
Discovering Excellence | Ages and Stages
Ages and Stages
Professor Miriam Bernard,
Professor Michael Murray, Dr Lucy Munro
Ageing Creatively
Collaboration between academia and the arts supports theatre as a medium for
social inclusion
The Ages and Stages project was
a collaboration between Keele
University and the New Vic Theatre,
Newcastle-under-Lyme running
from October 2009 to the end of
July 2012. The project explored the
Victoria Theatre’s famous social
documentaries – produced between
the 1960s and the 1990s – and
talked to older people about
what part the theatre has played
in their lives.
Miriam Bernard, Professor of Social
Gerontology at Keele University, led
the research team. “The location
for this project was the Potteries.
This is an area with a long history
of heavy industry which has
undergone considerable social
and economic change and decline
over the last forty years. These
changes have been charted by
many institutions, including the New
Vic Theatre, through the pioneering
social documentaries developed
under its founding Director, the late
Peter Cheeseman.”
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The research team employed a
mixed method approach organised
around three interrelated and
complementary strands. Strand 1
explored historical representations
of ageing through analyses of
materials held in the theatre’s
archive; Strand 2 focused on
recollections and contemporary
experiences of ageing through
79 individual/couple qualitative
interviews (97 people in total)
and ten group interviews (51
people in total) with older people
who were/are: (i) sources for the
Vic’s social documentaries; (ii)
theatre volunteers; (iii) audience
members throughout their lives;
(iv) actors and theatre employees
who continue to live in the area. In
addition, participant observation
was carried out at the theatre,
with current volunteers.
Professor Bernard says: “Our
project highlights the importance
of challenging stereotypes that
creativity declines/ceases in old
age; it demonstrate how theatre/
drama can be developed as a
medium for the inclusion of both
older adults and young people; and
shows how important participation
and volunteering can be at times of
transition/bereavement. In Strand
3 of the project, we drew together
materials from Strands 1 and 2 to
create a new social documentary
performance – Our Age, Our Stage
– bringing older participants from
the project together with members
of the New Vic’s Youth Theatre.”
The new social documentary
explores ageing, intergenerational
relations and the role the theatre
has played – and continues to
play – in the creative life of the
people of Stoke-on-Trent and North
Staffordshire. Our Age, Our Stage
was performed in a number of
local venues in July 2012, including
schools, colleges, retirement
communities and local councils.
Q&A sessions with the cast, crew
and research team followed
each performance. The main
performance took place in the New
Vic Theatre, in association with the
2012 British Society of Gerontology
(BSG) conference. Audience
members included conference
attendees, people who were
interviewed for Ages and Stages,
and invited guests. Alongside this,
an ‘Ages and Stages Exhibition’ was
displayed at the New Vic Theatre.
Ages and Stages was funded
by the national, cross-council
New Dynamics of Ageing (NDA)
programme, which aims to improve
the quality of life of older people
through research into all aspects
of ageing.