The Stolen Year is a witty, moving and wholly authentic glimpse into the lives of a diverse range of Older People experiencing the Covid lockdowns. The work is original in form, and enthralling for young and old audiences alike. This is amongst the best work I’ve that involves Elders in its co-creation.

Kate Organ
Churchill Fellowship Advisory Council

Brilliant is the only word for your amazing work on The Stolen Year. You are an asset to MAC and you deserve an O.B.E!

Project Participant

I thought this would just be about the older people, but it wasn’t — it was about all of us, really, wasn’t it? Hearing their stories has given me the first proper chance to reflect on my own pandemic experience. The good, the bad, and all the banana bread.

Audience Comment

The honesty coming from those [older] people was kind of incredible. I was in tears by the end. For them, but also (if I’m really honest) for myself. Because they dealt with the whole pandemic thing so much better than I did. Bunch of legends, the lot of them.

Audience Comment

  • 2021

  • For Little Earthquake

  • Commissioned by
    Midlands Arts Centre

    as part of Celebrating Age
  • Funded by
    Arts Council England
    The Baring Foundation

I’m telling you far more than my friends and family know about me…

Through chair-mounted speakers around a six-metre circle of living grass, twelve older people told the moving, funny and humbling stories of their experiences living through the Covid-19 pandemic — from moments of despair to the occasional cheeky hook-up — celebrating the power of hope and taking pleasure in small things.

We spent more than 25 hours talking to our participants to unearth their often-overlooked stories and to hear their perspectives on the “stolen year” of lockdowns and restrictions — looking at what was gained and what was lost, thinking about how life got better and how it got worse, and what might change as a result of everything we all went through.

Their experiences were as individual as they are as people. But whether they felt liberated or isolated — reduced to tears or sparkling with gratitude — what emerged amongst them all was a determination to draw on their own resources and to truly appreciate everything that’s good in their lives.

The Stolen Year was our contribution to a major national programme called Celebrating Age, and that’s exactly what we set out to do — foregrounding the insights and responses of our older participants who dug deep to tackle the unique demands that Covid placed on them.

CREDITS & ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

CREATIVE TEAM

Created by | Gareth J. Nicholls and Philip Holyman
Scenic Designer | David Crisp
Lighting Designer | Phil Speck
Sound Designer | Danny Warboys
Decompression Zone Facilitator | Emma Waterford
Technical Team at MAC | Lizzie Moran, Tom Moseley, Joe Henderson Tamm and Sophie Rawle
Production Assistants | Cecile Fayter, Daryanne Scott and Henry Bridge
BSL Interpreter | Dan Handscomb
Sustainability Champion | Henry Bridge
Film Documentation | Rachel Bunce / RB Films
Photo Documentation | Jess Oates
‘Flo’ designed and created by | Cecile Fayter

PRODUCTION PARTNERS

A Little Earthquake Production

Commissioned by Midlands Arts Centre

FUNDERS

Funded by Arts Council England and by The Baring Foundation

PRODUCTION SPONSORS

The ReUsers

FOR LITTLE EARTHQUAKE

Co-Director | Gareth J. Nicholls
Co-Director | Philip Holyman
Producer | Zoë Roberts

FOR MIDLANDS ARTS CENTRE

Artistic Director & Chief Executive | Debbie Kermode
Performance Programmer | Jo Carr
Head of Marketing | Simi Obra

THANK YOU

Our incredible participants for sharing their personal stories with us; Debbie Kermode, Jo Carr, Simi Obra, Holly Mulhern and the entire team at MAC; Linda Muirhead at the Department of Drama & Theatre Arts, University of Birmingham; Richard Craythorn and the team at The Re-Users.

EXPLORE WORK BY ROLE

EXPLORE WORK BY CATEGORY