By Ali Larkin on May 14,2012

What kind of old do you want to be? What facilities would you like to have access to as an older person? How do you expect to be treated by the rest of society? Given the inevitability of the ageing process, it’s a wonder we don’t ask ourselves these questions more often. Many of us consciously avoid them, in fact. Yet according to Dominic Campbell, Artistic Director of Bealtaine, by 2035 over 50% of the population of Western Europe will be over the age of 65. People are living longer lives & this rapidly changing demographic demands a remodelling of social infrastructure, the services we provide for older people & more importantly yet, a shift in our attitude towards age.

“I am on the cusp of something inevitable, unavoidable,” Donna Rutherford tells us. “No one has died.” She does not add the word “yet” but in those stark terms, sensitively delivered and reflected onstage in the sands of an hour glass or a day measured out in mealtimes, she moves towards a consideration of her parents’ mortality. The title is KIN, but the focus is next of.

KIN looks at the changing relationship between middle-aged children and their ageing parents - how you negotiate those often subtle changes in later life - as you yourself are getting older and the realisation that your parents are going to need more support. Donna Rutherford, who devised and performs in the piece talks here to Caomhan Keane.