'Ages and Stages' Exhibition opens
This week saw the official opening of the 'Ages and Stages' Exhibition which is on show to the public at the New Vic Theatre until July 21st. Over tea and homemade cakes, a hundred people who have been involved with the Ages & Stages research project gathered at the theatre to mark the occasion.
The exhibition traces the history of the theatre and commemorates the relationship between the Vic, local people and the communities of North Staffordshire over the past 50 years. Lis Evans, Head of Design for the New Vic, has curated the exhibition which is conceived as an 'exploding scrap book' and features exhibits from the Victoria Theatre Collection, alongside items loaned by audience members, volunteers and theatre employees. In addition to the many photographs, original scripts, paintings and props, a short film shows excerpts from the 'bringing-in day' in May, intercut with archival footage about both the old, and new, theatres.
The exhibition – together with a new social documentary performance piece entitled 'Our Age, Our Stage' – is the culmination of nearly three years of work by the Ages & Stages research team. The project, led by Professor Mim Bernard, has been exploring the Victoria Theatre's famous social documentaries, produced between the 1960s and the 1990s, and talking to older people about what part the theatre has played – and continues to play - in their lives. It has been funded under the national, multi research council New Dynamics of Ageing programme.
The main performance of 'Our Age, Our Stage' takes place on 11th July 2012 at the New Vic Theatre, in association with the 2012 British Society of Gerontology (BSG) conference.