Members of The Performance Ensemble, a Leeds-based company of creative people aged 60-90, negotiate attitudes to ageing that restrict who they are in Ripe, premiering at Leeds Playhouse (November 15-16).
Director Lucy Campbell said: “Ripe is about the way we look at older bodies in art and in life. It plays with the idea of the youthful gaze and how it traps us all, young and old, into a fear of ageing. The point of Ripe is to ask how can we look at ageing differently.”
The Performance Ensemble is a group of writers, dancers, musicians and actors with, clearly, a considerable depth of lived experience. Their work is multi-layered, with contributions from people of all backgrounds and nationalities.
Their previous production, Sinfonia, enjoyed two runs at the Playhouse: first as part of 1001 Stories in spring 2023, during which older creatives took over the building in a two-week celebration of age and ageing, and second in a stand-alone run in spring this year. The show featured personal stories written and performed by the cast, interwoven with original music and choreography.
More info and tickets here