The Elders

dlr Mill Theatre works with Floating World Theatre to build community and create opportunities for the many diverse communities of Dundrum, and the wider county and city.

About the Elders

The Elders train with their facilitator Andrea Scott and professionals from the industry in movement, creative writing, playwrighting, improvisation, creative composition, contemporary drama and puppetry to name a few.

Who We Are

We have been creating original theatre since 2018. We are a group of people at a stage in life some call ‘the beige age’ where people seem to disappear into the background of life. We challenge ageing! We aim to be a beacon to people aged over 65 and show them that, ‘is féidir linn!’ We use improvisation techniques; our collective talents; our imagination; and local folklore, to create our dramatic performances. We count ourselves lucky to have reached this stage in our lives – with our memories intact, we all have a story to tell. We have performed indoors and outdoors on front of large appreciative audiences. Everyday surprises us with newfound knowledge. Some of this knowledge is about nature protecting our environment. As a group we are not in decline – on the contrary – our aim is to contribute – to be reflective; to be active in the community; for our work to be valued, and for our deeply considered opinions to be heard. We are motivated by values beyond our personal selves – to freely serve the community in which we live. We educate – we create awareness of topical issues; we encourage conversation and reflection on the themes in our presentations.

What We Do

We Elders meet each Tuesday for 3 hours. Coming towards show time, it is more frequently and for a longer period. Our diary is organised at the start of each season by Andrea our director. Andrea could be the facilitator, or we might have a puppeteer; an actor; a dramaturge; or a dance choreographer to facilitate us.
We generally meet in the Mill theatre, but we have had our sessions in The Dance Studio, in Ballaly and in Mt Merrion park, and for our eco drama, in the beautiful woodland of Kilruddery demesne. We learn from different experts how to compile, write, edit and perform our pieces. This enhances our skills, particularly our
cognitive and memory skills. Our mobility, our flexibility and our mindfulness are addressed by movement and relaxation techniques at the start and often
throughout each session. We develop the courage to perform on front of a live audience and to display our skills and talents.

We welcome new members!

To express interest in joining the Elders email shona@milltheatre.ie or phone us on 01 296 9340.

Along with their facilitator Andrea the 20224 team are currently working on the following productions:

All the Leaves are Brown. Aren’t they? – The Seasons Project
Three and a half billion seconds – The Beckett Project
Teresa Deevy Biopic Project
The Conference of Birds – Red Listed Birds Project

The 2024 Elders Participants are:

David Ingoldsby, Brendan Supple, Andrew Parkes, Eimear Berry, Margaret Casey, Nuala O’Connell, Aileen O’Connor, Eithne Casey, Angela O’Rourke, Hughie O’Byrne, Mary Cate Kelly, Joan Nolan, Maureen Shakespeare, Lucile McDonald & Irene Gunning

Some testimonials from past participants:

Andrea is a talented theatre director and workshop facilitator. She worked with a diverse group of amateurs from “ page to stage” in a creative collaborative project in the Mill Theatre.
In a four month period she displayed her creativity, skills and patience encouraging us to believe we could write and perform a production to a very high standard. Her work with the group was inspiring. Encouraging us to go beyond our “comfort zone” to trust the process to the final performance under her professional guidance. – Ann Maria Dunne

“Having been out of touch with drama for the past forty years it is very refreshing to get back into it again. What a wonderful idea to get such a project underway and to give us young things a chance to reconnect with our creative side again. Andrea and Mick are working hard with us and making sure we all get a bit of individual attention. So far we have all had a chance to read, act and come up with some ideas of our own. The exercises they get us to do at the beginning of each class help us to dispel any nerves we might have. I look forward to bringing our production to fruition”. – Attracta Peden

The over-65s theatre project, facilitated by Andrea Scott, has been a moving experience, if you’ll pardon the pun. She has encouraged us to overcome our self-consciousness and engage in movements and tableaus . . . so far. There is more to come! All this is conducted in an atmosphere of fun, creativity and, most importantly, respect for her elderly ‘charges’. Given Andrea’s talents, I have no doubt that the final stage production will be a fascinating one – for participants as well as the audience – Shabnam Vasisht

Please visit https://www.floatingworldproductions.com/ for more information.

The Somewhat Imagined, Partly Historical, True Story of the Forgotten Irish Playwright Teresa Deevy

by Michelle Read and The Elders – Staged at dlr Mill Theatre from 24 Jan – 1 Feb 2025

When The Elders first rediscovered Teresa Deevy and her plays they puzzled at never having heard of her before. Dismay led to fascination, research, and astonishment at Deevy’s unique talents, her successes and fame, and the crises that life threw before her. Led by playwright Michelle Read and producer/director Andrea Scott, material for a script was devised by the group and transformed into a play by Michelle. Part documentary and part imagination, The Elders’ performance creates a playful kaleidoscope of 1930s Ireland, of Deevy’s life, her Abbey achievements and, in the 40s, her plays written for the “wireless”.

“During our development period as the team researched Deevy’s life and plays we came across a lot of contradictions and assumptions so that as with any real person we had no real idea what the truth of her was. We don’t really know what Teresa was like and we all have different interpretations of her personality and how she operated in the world as a deaf woman. So we made the decision to have many of the ensemble play her. We also believe in equality of casting!

Deevy’s characters, as all characters, have been and will be played by various actors so again we made the decision to swap these roles around constantly throughout the cast.

Throughout Autumn Michelle collaborated with the group on writing this piece, she then took that material as a basis to write this wonderful original play. The Elders use their scripts throughout to ensure they don’t forget any of it”