Elderflowers (a reading) By Alana Valentine

Commissioned by the South Sydney Uniting Church, Alana Valentine’s Elderflowers is a work in process. It is based on interviews and research undertaken in Redfern and Waterloo with older residents, celebrating the wisdom and quirkiness of age.

It has much to offer both those who generously gave of themselves as research participants and the wider community.

Warm, funny and poignant, Elderflowers is a sassy look at life through the lens of older eyes and it reveals much about their invisible lives.

Bullying by greedy, impatient children, neighbourly disputes, the absurdity of “the system” that hinders more than it helps – the characters emerge as the script spirals its way through anecdotes building up a mosaic-style impression of the older community.

Elderflowers is a tribute to the resilience of the human spirit and adds to the connective tissue that binds the community together. Social capital in action.

Source: www.southsydneyherald.com.au