Rustoord Martha Balthazar, Jana De Kockere, Barbara T’Jonck, Mats Vandroogenbroeck / KVS

Join this performance and bring along your retired (grand)mother of (grand)father!

A mixture of smells - mashed potatoes and disinfectant - permeate the corridors of the rest home, while televisions blare in multitudes. The contrasts between the slow movements of the residents and the haste of the staff are striking, calling for reflection on the meaning of this environment for everyone who stays there.

Growing old brings with it a charge of contradictions - memories and forgetfulness, pride and fear, community and loneliness - and today also practical challenges such as waiting lists, indexing and staff shortages.

Rustoord is a documentary theatre piece that explores the complexities of elderly care through interviews with various stakeholders. The performance takes a critical look at the long corridors of residential care centres, the impact of centrally organised care politics within a neoliberal framework, and the ongoing tension between care, freedom and discipline. Featuring actors from different generations, Rustoord does not offer unequivocal answers, but rather an insight into the complex knot of contemporary elderly care, and acts as an imaginative exercise about growing older free of fear.