Paper short abstract:

My paper investigates the work of Sugawara Naoki, founder of the theatre group OiBokkeShi and a trained caregiver, who is based in Okayama prefecture to scrutinize how age-related issues are addressed in selected productions.

Paper long abstract:

In a super-ageing society such as Japan, issues of care-giving and improving the wellbeing of elderly people are becoming increasingly important. In recent years, art works that actively include the elderly or address problems of high age have gained attention. My paper investigates the work of Sugawara Naoki, founder of the theatre group OiBokkeShi and a trained caregiver, who is based in Okayama prefecture in central Japan but has become known to a growing audience around the country. The name (AgeSenilityDeath) points to the key issues of his performances and workshops. Sugawara's plays, which feature the 91-year-old Okada Tadao in the lead role, attract a great variety of audiences, among them local citizens and medical staff. Besides writing and staging plays, Sugawara holds workshops on aging and theatre that aim at both improving the wellbeing of people suffering from dementia and making participants conscious of how they interact with the elderly in need of care. In so doing, he is among the first theatre people in Japan to address age-related topics and to respond to the challenges of an ageing population. My paper will investigate Sugawara's approach to theatre. I will scrutinize how age-related issues are addressed in selected productions and place them in the context of international applied theatre practice. My paper will show how Sugawara's theatre activities contribute to creating age-friendly localities.