“Though I have seen some strikingly young audiences for events in London and elsewhere while working with a touring company, you do quickly realise that the backbone of many audiences around the country is on the senior side of 60. There are certain venues where, if the comedy in a show is too raucous, you worry whether all of the audience is going to survive to the end of the show. As hearing aids produce their weird dog-whistle whine, and large sections mutter continuously to themselves, while other sections nod blissfully off, you can feel a little of the exasperation that impels the Arts Council. Yet is this anything new? The prejudice against the aged is always quick to surface, however dumb.”