Director/ Translator Notes

It is no secret that older artists might face age-related physical and cognitive changes. However, far greater impediments to their successful participation in the arts are the social stigmas of ageism and ableism.

On this project, we explored forms and aesthetics specifically from tools to support Senior artists in performance in rural touring. By “bringing the production to the performer”, we asked “what new is created when we make access integral to creation, design, rehearsal, and presentation processes?” And by doing so – draw attention to the needs of our ageing population in an intergenerational conversation and illuminate the experience of seniors’ day to day living.

The Creatus Project “Bakes Access & Accommodation into Creation”. This is done by identifying the barriers and needs of the senior performer creatively and structurally, addressing these barriers, and then integrating the solutions into all aspects of production.

Reimaging the production to elder actor Allan Toots, we decentralised memory from product, added memory prompts developed with Al (ex. set, props, sound cues, media, etc.), and created new text and staging to meet his accommodation. This “Artist First Approach” means each show is unique the unique performer.

We gratefully acknowledge the support of:

Ingrid Turk, Kaeden Atkinson-Hill, Upintheair Theatre, Western Gold Theatre, Presentation House Theatre, & Supertitles.gr