Leeds theatre company celebrating the art of ageing creatively
Over the last nine years, Leeds-based theatre company The Performance Ensemble has been at the forefront of what could be termed a quiet revolution.
Founded in 2016 by Alan Lyddiard, an award-winning stage and film director, producer, writer and former artistic director of Northern Stage, the Ensemble creates high-quality cutting-edge contemporary theatre with older professional and community performers, all aged over 60.
Since its inception, Lyddiard has led the company from a small-scale project-based initiative to the nationally recognised organisation it is today. It was awarded National Portfolio status by Arts Council England two years ago and is the UK’s first organisation of a permanent collective of older artists. The work it creates challenges preconceptions about ageing in a subtle, imaginative and innovative way, putting older people centre stage. Lyddiard passionately believes that the arts can change society for the better and that everybody is creative and has a story to tell. Those beliefs are at the centre of the company’s ethos.
In the past decade I have had the privilege of being in the rehearsal room for some of the company’s productions and have seen the process by which they are created. It is all about collaboration, respect and trust. And for the participants, many of whom have never performed before, it can be a life-changing experience. It was announced earlier this month that Lyddiard, who is now 76, will be stepping down as artistic director of the company in the autumn. However, he is certainly not planning to retire. A leading advocate for the inclusion of older people in the arts and of exploring the concept of creative ageing, he will continue to work with the company in a freelance capacity. “I am staying until October and then I will start developing work of my own, but very much connected to the Performance Ensemble,” he says. “Our NPO status has been extended until 2028 so I feel like I am leaving the company in a good place. I now want to put all my energy into creating work and developing ties around the world.” Among the projects he will be pursuing is establishing an International Festival of Creative Ageing and overseeing Bench Encounters, an intergenerational piece inspired by the global Friendship Bench movement.
Reflecting on what he and the company have achieved, Lyddiard cites as a highlight the 1001 Stories festival, conceived and delivered by the Ensemble in September 2023. A two-week takeover of Leeds Playhouse by older people celebrating creativity, age and ageing, it featured live performances, exhibitions, film screenings and a range of workshops from Zumba, origami and bread-making to Tai Chi, Burlesque and Bollywood. “As older people, we get ignored and begin to feel like a burden to society,” he says. “I want the world to know that older people make an incredibly important contribution to society. In a way 1001 Stories was an act of activism, to bring that to people’s attention.”
The centrepiece of 1001 Stories was Sinfonia, a large-scale piece involving around 30 performers which combined storytelling, live music and dance. One of the projects that Lyddiard will be leading after he steps down as AD is to develop Sinfonia further as a touring piece. “There is a lot of interest across the country for productions of Sinfonia,” he says. “It is created with people in each place it goes to, so there is a completely new version each time. It has a universality to it, but also contains the idea that there are seemingly unimportant moments in life that become meaningful with hindsight. Those are the stories that stay with you and by thinking about those moments, things can become clearer to you about how you are living your life. Every time we do it, it is different and every time I learn something new about people.” Storytelling is fundamental to our humanity – it is how we relate to each other and make sense of the world. It means that it can become a powerful tool for encouraging individual and collective creativity as well as effecting societal change.
“When we made the announcement that I was stepping down, I received really beautiful letters and messages from a whole range of people in the community I had worked with telling me about the positive contribution their involvement had made to their health and wellbeing,” says Lyddiard. “I have felt a lot of love and support. There has been opposition too of course – there are difficulties when you are the first to try and do something different. On the whole it’s been amazing and it is a great company, I really do feel it will continue to do important things and act as a role model for others. I hope that the best is yet to come.”
For more information about the company visit theperformanceensemble.com