skip to Main Content

Glorious Age: after 15 years of performing risk-taking and joyful projects, Entelechy Arts theatre company for ages 65+ gets a rebrand

Internationally known for their iconic street theatre show BED, performances in Christopher Green’s The Home and leading role in Entelechy Arts’ Tea Dances, Glorious Age have given themselves a new name. They want to reflect on their ambitions for the future and to celebrate coming back together in-person to begin making new work after the pandemic.

Their first performance since the pandemic will be a part of the 21st Century Tea Dance Homecoming on 12 October at The Albany in Deptford with a sharing of a new film and performance they made during the lockdown.

The company has been devising and performing work inspired by their own experiences and addressing subjects that are important to them including family, care, loneliness, home, and what it’s like to grow old in South East London.

During the pandemic, they have continued working together on the phone and over Zoom to create two new plays which will be released in October.

As a theatre group, Glorious Age is not afraid to challenge audiences or themselves and their rehearsals are filled with debate, sharing and joy.

David Slater, Founder and Associate, Entelechy Arts said: “Glorious Age hit the ground running in 2006 with a series of performances that focused on the themes of home, identity and belonging. Their 2007 intergeneration show ‘George’, funded by the Home Office, explored the concept of ‘Englishness’ within the diverse communities of southeast London. They toured ‘George’ to community halls in Southwark with police protection at a time when the British National Party had a visible presence on south London streets. Powerful local work soon led to international collaborations – notably ‘The Boyfriend’ a live-streamed soap opera with 70 and 80-year-olds from Engage in Los Angeles, a reworking of Shakespeare’s Tempest (A Storm in a Teacup) with Casa das Fases from Londrina, Brazil and a version of BED with Saitama Arts Theatre, Japan. As a theatre-maker, I have been constantly nourished, educated and taken by surprise when working in their company; wondering what their next ground-breaking theatrical adventure will be.”

The members of Glorious Age said: “We speak about the past and the present. Both. We are old but not cold. We’ve all had experiences that have taught us a lot. We sit down and we plan shows. All of us sit down and all of us write it together. We haven’t got any scriptwriter. You name it and we’ll try it: shows about life and current events with always comedy thrown in. We mostly do shows about things that happen.”

Maddy Mills, Director, Entelechy Arts said: “Coming back together for the first time in person after the pandemic was significant and energising for us all. The group came up with Glorious Age as a new name, to reflect their positive and ambitious attitude towards the work that they create. The stories Glorious Age tell are deeply rooted in the life experiences of the members, but are also universal stories that everyone can identify with; friendship, hope and celebrating life. We are really excited to be entering a new chapter with Glorious Age and we can’t wait to share what they are up to next… watch this space!”

To promote their work, Glorious Age started to create fantastical posters for the Entelechy Arts 21st Century Tea Dances which are an imaginative and fun collaboration between the Entelechy Arts team, photographer Roswitha Chesher and designer Donkey Studio.

Glorious Age can next be seen performing at Entelechy Arts’ first in-real-life 21st Century Tea Dance since the pandemic began. The Homecoming Tea Dance will also be live-streamed on 12 October.

This Post Has 0 Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back To Top