Old Age as Theatrical Matter: Devising and Performing CollAge, a Play on the Masks and Mirrors of the Ageing Process

Abstract

This article will present the architectural configuration of CollAge, a theatrical show that focuses on old age and the inner lives it may generate, and which intends to highlight the irrelevant permanences and necessary ephemeralities which characterize our socio-cultural perceptions of the elderly. It addresses the following questions: What aspects of old ages hould be theatricalized, considering the marginal position of the elderly in our contemporary Western societies? Through which sources and techniques can old age be re-presented as relevant and truthful subject matter? What is gained and lost through the generational gap between author/actor and character and between the distance that separates actors/ characters and the target audience in their respective processes of ageing? Ultimately, this paper intends to reflect upon the boundaries and potentialities of dramaturgy and performativity when the intricacies of the ageing process in its advanced phase are placed center stage.