title: "There's No Correspondence Between Me and My Age": Old Age in Theresia Walser's King Kong's Daughters.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Against the context of a rapidly aging population, the theme of senescence has been figuring increasingly prominently in contemporary German theater. This paper discusses the depiction of old age in one notable example, Theresia Walser's King Kong's Daughters, a hugely successful black comedy set in a nursing home.
  
  
  METHODS
  This paper takes an interdisciplinary approach in its analysis of Walser's play, drawing not just on drama and theater studies, but also on performance, film, and cultural studies as well as the sociology and psychology of aging.
  
  
  RESULTS
  King Kong's Daughters might seem to be pervaded with negative ageist stereotypes. It is argued here, however, that Walser skillfully exploits the special formal qualities of theatrical performance--in particular, its liveness, corporeality, and communality--to illuminate both what it is like to be old and what it is like to care for the elderly in today's world.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Given demographic developments, senescence seems set to increasingly inform the themes, motifs, and characters of theater in Germany and beyond. Paying closer attention to how old age is invoked on the contemporary stage can generate insights that are not only of interest to theater scholars, but are also of value to gerontologists and age scholars more generally.
authors.affiliation: Translator and Independent Scholar, Hamburg, Germany crowesi@tcd.ie.
authors.forename: Sinéad
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Crowe
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D063506:Ageism / Q000523:psychology*; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D006299:Health Services for the Aged / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D009735:Nursing Homes
keywords: Abuse/neglect; Ageism; Drama; Film; Germany; Nursing homes; Performance; Successful aging; Theater