Ad Infinitum’s diverse and inter-generational cast in rehearsal for ‘If You Fall’

Based around the testimonies of older people, their loved ones, and their carers, the multi-award-winning company Ad Infinitum are bringing their new show If You Fall to Bristol Old Vic’s Weston Studio on April 5, for a 10 day run.

Billed as a show about “care, love, and the end of our lives”, we follow Margaret and Norson as they begin to lose their independence, their voices, and the elements that once characterised them in the youth that has now slipped away.

The intergenerational ensemble of six – four of whom are Bristol-based actors – have been involved in devising the production, bringing their personal stories to bear on the characters they portray.

Bristol24/7 was joined by one of the oldest – Heather Williams, and youngest – Elisabeth Gunawan, in the cast, to discuss their experience of making the play.

Can you describe and explain your personal responses If You Fall?

HW: “It’s an incredibly personal response. The play is devised and my character is loosely based on my mother and my experiences of nursing her in her final months.

“Although I’m no spring chicken, I still feel relatively young, but the play has also made me really think about what I want for myself in later life if I need to be cared for. In addition, it’s made me really want to avoid falling over at all costs!”

EG: “The play has revealed the complex layers of what it means to ‘care’ – a universal experience that we all partake in in one way or another. Care can be a burden, a responsibility to shirk, or a calling and a privilege. I would argue that it is part of what makes us human.

“As a younger person engaging with the creation of this piece in the past couple of years, there are ways in which this play gets to the heart of certain issues in our time and in our homes that has been hugely enlightening.”

Are the ideas explored in the story too little discussed in real life?

HW: “Absolutely. I don’t think anyone likes to think about their own death or more importantly how we are going to die. Many of us stick our heads in the sand when thinking about caring for older people. But it’s time we broke the taboo. It will affect all of us at one time or another, and as a society and individuals we have to address how we do it now.”

EG: “Absolutely! I would say it’s even still taboo, and deeply uncomfortable. But most of us are going to get old, need care, and die – and theatre creates a safe space for wrestling and reflecting on these difficult questions.”

What is your hope or expectation from audiences coming to watch these narratives play out on stage?

HW: I’ve always admired the work of Ad Infinitum and I’m delighted to be working with them. In the past, as an audience member, I’ve appreciated the way they explore difficult social concerns through highly creative and entertaining storytelling. I hope people will enjoy the humour and heart of the stories in If You Fall, recognise themselves in similar situations and be moved to make changes in the way they think about how we care.”

EG: “For them to feel seen, and engaged, perhaps even to bring them to accept certain inevitable facts. I think in a lot of ways we still live in a youth-obsessed culture – there’s something important about centering characters who are older and living daily with the realities of ageing.”

How has the rehearsal process deepened your empathy with the characters?

HW: “I spend a lot of the play either in a bed or lying on the floor, and rehearsing has made me realise just how disempowering it is to be immobile. It has given me much more empathy for older people and how frustrating it must be not to be able to do the things you could do when you were younger – and how awful it is to be patronised just because you’re ageing. I come from a family of nurses, some of whom worked in the care system, and it has also made me even more aware of their skill, compassion and dedication.”

EG: “I’m at an age when I do have to begin caring for sick and ageing parents, and also little monstrous children! So I understand the pull of both a) having freedom and agency, and b) desiring to be present for the care of others, and knowing that it would define who I am and how I relate to the world. There are no good guys or bad guys, just people trying their best.”

In a utopian future, how might we best approach elder and end-of-life care?

HW: “It would be a world where older people are visible and truly valued as important members of society; valued for their wisdom and experience and what they have given to society over their lives, and not just seen as a being to be cared for. We will have learned from other cultures the way they treat their elders; for example the family-focused care of India or the well-funded formal care of the Scandinavian countries. The people delivering the care would be well trained, well respected, including by other professionals, and paid a decent wage.”

EG: “I think there would be an acceptance that care is the most important thing in society – that humans should be cared for with dignity! And that resources should absolutely go towards that priority. Also an awareness that care is a quintessential human need and the responsibility of all, thus decompartmentalised from caring for children vs caring for older people vs caring for people with disabilities.”

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If You Fall is at The Weston Studio, Bristol Old Vic from April 5-15 at 8pm, with additional 3pm matinee shows on Saturday (no shows on Sunday or Monday). Tickets are available at www.bristololdvic.org.uk.

All photos: Camilla Adams

Read more: ‘We need to change perceptions of ageing in Bristol’

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