Real life stories of an often overlooked generation will be told during a unique show in Barrow next month.
Sinfonia will feature a group of Barrovians, all over 60, recreating their personal stories combined with original music and dance.
Making her stage debut will be Nancy Hendley, 71, who has lived in the Barrow area all her life.
As a teenager in 1969, her family suffered tragedy when her two brothers, George and Ken, aged 31 and 20, both drowned in the Duddon estuary. George, who’d been in the Merchant Navy, was never found.
The village of Askam was plunged into mourning but just a few weeks after the tragedy, local men launched the Duddon Inshore Rescue which is still going strong and is a lasting legacy to Nancy’s brothers whose story she will tell in Sinfonia.
“When you’re standing next to someone, you might never know what they’ve suffered in life and my performance will be a tribute to my brothers,” said Nancy.
Also among them will be Bernice Woodhouse, who has lived in Barrow since marrying in 1966.
Bernice’s story touches upon her lonely childhood living above her parents’pub and the contrast with her husband’s family who, although all tone deaf, loved to sing, particularly her father-in-law, Arthur Woodhouse, who was the life and soul of the party.
“I’ve never done anything like Sinfonia before but every year, I make a resolution to do something new,” said Bernice, 77, who was a foster parent for 31 years as well as having two children of her own.
Bernice and Nancy will appear alongside members of The Performance Ensemble, the UK’s first professional older people’s theatre company, who premiered a Leeds-based version of the show last year.
This unique opportunity has been provided by BarrowFull which organised a visit to Leeds Playhouse for older Barrovians to see the original production.
“The performance had a massive impact on the group who had not seen this type of theatre before,” said BarrowFull’s creative director, Daniel Tyler-McTighe.
Since launching in 2020, BarrowFull has run many workshops for older adults, mainly visual art and craft based and they showed an appetite for other arts activities too.
A team from The Performance Ensemble visited Barrow to run some exploratory workshops which led to the idea of the town having its own version of Sinfonia which is sponsored by the Sir John Fisher Foundation and Barrow Town Council.
Rehearsals have now begun for this celebration of lives being lived to the fullest, and performances take place on September 18 at 1.30pm and 7.30pm in a new pop-up intimate theatre space at The Forum.
The cast are being directed by 73-year-old Alan Lyddiard, The Performance Ensemble’s artistic director.
“We’ve been creating high quality performances with people over 60 for years now, giving a voice to generations that have been forgotten or deemed irrelevant,” said Alan.
“These people have full lives and experiences worth sharing and we are revealing and celebrating them in new, beautiful and emotive ways.”
