ABSTRACT
Age Exchange is a theatre company that creates plays based on the reminiscences and current concerns of older people in the London area. The company was founded in 1983, and since then has toured four or five productions each year to venues where older people meet or live. The shows are directed and performed by professionals, but the process of creating the shows involves the collaboration of older people with the writers, directors, musicians, and actors. The choice of subject matter for these shows is determined sometimes by the company and sometimes by the older people themselves. In all cases the raw material of the scripts is the tape-recorded or written recollections of older people, gleaned from group discussions, individual interviews, improvisations, or pieces of writing. This raw material is not only the basis for a theatre script but is also edited for publication in book form so that the recollections and insights of the older people are preserved beyond the life of the production and available to those unable to see the play.
