It is not only the wealthy who can afford second homes
in magical places. I first discovered the Vic as a Keele student in the late
1960s and, apart from a few years working in and around London, it has been my
second home ever since. London theatre is world-class but it doesn’t have that
unique combination of immediacy, intimacy, community and involvement found at
the old Vic Theatre, and that is now also the magical hallmark of the New Vic.
The Ages & Stages project seems a natural
progression for the theatre’s outreach into the local community. Who better to
tell of its past glories than those of us who have been audience members for,
in some cases, over forty years? Invited to share our memories as part of a documentary,
we have been meeting and getting to know each other since September 2011. The
most daunting but ultimately most rewarding aspect of the workshops have been
the improvisation sessions, challenging our ability to express our knowledge
spontaneously without resorting to clichéd speech or gesture. Not easy. And not
made any easier by the presence of a camera filming every moment – the surprise
is that a relaxed and informal atmosphere makes possible a level of
concentration that overcomes any concerns about appearing foolish and having
blunders recorded.
Before Christmas we older, (mature?) theatre fanatics
were joined by members of the Youth Theatre. Their arrival brought a new focus
to the sessions, together with the promise of future magic. Their enthusiasm
and openness was infectious, awakening memories of when I was young and unaware
of the impending demands of adulthood. So perhaps it was just as well that some
topics were avoided – fear of a painful death, sex, poverty – in our
discussions and improvisations. Maybe an ‘Extreme Ages & Stages’ awaits
exploration – the Theatre of Cruelty and the Absurd combined. For the moment,
however, young and old approached the tasks of improvised performance with
intelligence, sensitivity and wit such that we created a Theatre of Pleasure
for an all too brief magical time in which Age was Play.
John Shapcott - Ages and Stages Theatre Company
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