The art of growing old: oral history theatre plays a part

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article reports on an oral history theatre project completed by a Hong Kong professional theatre company which involved more than 200 elders who participated as devising actors in two stage performances, with school students and the wider public as audiences. The study found that older participants in the project were much satisfied with their creative experience as a meaningful process to make sense of their past life – an artistic integration of memories for achieving coherent internal life-history. Using both quantitative questionnaire and qualitative methods, the paper discusses how these elders were mentally, emotionally, socially, and physically transformed through the art form of oral history theatre.