Local creative arts organisation Vintage Creative Therapies is counting the days to the premiere performance of its new theatre work ‘Aware’ premiering at the Adelaide Fringe Festival in March.

Vintage Creative Therapies has taken up the challenge of raising awareness of ageism, giving voice to older people to create a show that draws upon the skills, enthusiasm and energy of professional theatre makers and older community performers.

The show is an accessible (Auslan interpreted, audio described) and exciting mix of puppetry, music, visual action, and verbatim theatre.

Aware’s artistic director Alan Hendry says, “What we need now is an audience.

“Our committed performers have been rehearsing since December and in these final weeks are focusing their enthusiasm and energy on pulling the elements of the show into a cohesive theatre piece, co-designed with older people, which they hope will entertain, but also challenge community perceptions of ageing.

“The process rather than the final product has been the most important part of this production for the participants, but they are still keen to have as many people as possible attend,” says Alan.

“That’s why most artists create, musicians compose and actors act, to have their thoughts, views and talents witnessed by others.”

Alan says the performers are taking a chance.

“By performing live in such a dynamic and challenging medium, some for the first time, they are opening themselves up to feedback from the community and are to be commended.”

“One good thing about it being a new work is that there are no preconceptions about how the show should look or how it should be staged, so we’re just going to put it out there and see what happens.”

Vintage Creative Therapies hopes this production will encourage more older people to attend the Fringe on a regular basis.

“The Fringe is an amazing cultural event for this city but according to its ‘2022 Impact Report’ made only 5.5 percent of total ticket sales to people over 65.

“I hope that our theatre production, which is relevant and accessible to older people, will help improve this figure, which can only be a good thing for our older population.

“To use an old theatre term, we are asking the community to help us get ‘bums on seats,’” he says.

Purchase tickets for the show through FringeTIX at Aware | Adelaide Fringe.

For more information and insights into the project’s progress, visit Vintage Creative Therapies website, Facebook page and Instagram.

The project is supported by Office for Ageing Well, SA Health.