On Ageing
Young Vic
There’s an endearing simplicity and sincerity in On Ageing, in which children perform text by older adults, spanning the whole of a lifetime, starting with the empty space of youth through to the physical and mental accumulation of old age. An empty white space begins to fill up with memories; at first, they belong to someone else, yet gradually they diversify and grow to include those of the children onstage. Shafts of light mark the passage of time and a skeleton stands behind the accumulated clutter- toys, books, lamps, chairs of all shapes and sizes, skipping ropes and teddy bears and television screens. At one point in the show, a recording of an adult choir people marks the atmosphere with candid melancholy. This creates a fascinating link between the physical presence of the children and the absence of the adults: one young, one ageing, yet both caught in the same moment.
The performance is based around the process of ageing, and the accumulation that comes with it. With a natural ability to play with words and meaning, and a slight awkwardness onstage, the children are a captivating bridge into the physical and emotional consequences of ageing. Performing the truth of others, yet entirely focused on the present, they bring an optimistic view of what memories mean, as well as mark the relationship between how old we feel and how old we really are. Watching them play, interact and recreate moments, as well as being constantly reminded of the inevitability of time passing, means the piece is always focused and celebratory. The simplicity of a room being projected with memories is an endearing mirror to our own relationship to ageing.
There’s a lot of subtext in the children’s interaction and Brechtian dialogue, emphasized by the lack of emotional affiliation with what they are actually saying. ‘Ageing is realizing you never had a plan B’, says ten year old Madeleine. That ambivalence of meaning is a metaphor carried throughout the performance. We are left to fill in the space with our memories and fears of the passage of time. And in the end, the most satisfying moments of the play are those when the children respond and interact with the objects, playing, creating a dialogue through their actions and the organization of the elements onstage that becomes a visual representation of remembrance.
There is a constant interaction taking place between the voices of the adults, those of the directors (David Harradine and Sam Butler, the children and the audience members. The focus shifts at various moments of the play, and this allows the audience to change position in light of what they’re seeing. This is reflective of the show’s interest to represent rather than answer questions, point in directions rather than make statements. As time passes, we watch them filling up the room, creating memories which they recount for us.
On Ageing is focused on the dichotomies of growing old, and the beauty inherent in the domesticity of the lifetime process. The children are not only highly engaged performers, but they become a unique mode of observation as particpants in the passage of time.
Tagged: Young Vic