Street theatre focuses on social isolation

Two characters in a scene from pop-up street show The Loneliness Street Cabaret.
Two characters in a scene from pop-up street show The Loneliness Street Cabaret.

Are you too busy with tech to talk? How well do you know your older neighbours? Do you think your local community involves everyone in it?

A pop-up street theatre performance this week will focus on the epidemic of loneliness and the growing isolation of older people, as I explain on the Guardian website today.

A young audience member gets involved in a recent performance of the Loneliness Street Cabaret.
A young audience member gets involved in a recent performance of the Loneliness Street Cabaret.

The Loneliness Street Cabaret, an outdoor street performance from the Beautiful Mess Theatre Company, is showing from Tuesday to Thursday (4 to 7 October) as part of the month-long Age UK Lambeth’s Celebrating Age Festival in London.

The theatre performance, which takes place in different public spaces across the south London borough, is inspired by the fact that loneliness is increasing at a time when our our cities are becoming ever more crowded. The show has been developed using anecdotes, opinions and experiences of older people in south London.

A character is chastised in the Loneliness Street Cabaret for being too distracted by his phone to interact with people.
A character is chastised in the Loneliness Street Cabaret for being too distracted by his phone to interact with people.

The shows are performed in public spaces, from outside tube stations to public squares, in the hope that the shared experience of performance will spark the audience to have conversations and take action based on the show’s themes. Osborne says the aim is to provoke people to consider the issues highlighted by the performance: “It’s about your local community and how you fit within it,” says creative producer Chloe Osborne, “but also about what your responsibility is for ensuring that others belong in it too.”

You can read the entire piece here.

* All photos from the Beautiful Mess Theatre Company

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