Glenda, 80: We need roles for older actors

GLENDA Jackson has lamented the absence of elderly people in plays, saying she longs for a script that ‘wasn’t just about age’.

The 80- year- old former Labour MP, right, who has an olivier nomination for her portrayal of King Lear, said women were still sidelined when it comes to acting roles.

She said: ‘I cannot understand why creative writers do not find women interesting. Even contemporary ones. Men are still almost invariably the dramatic engine, women on the sidelines. In film, there was a period when really the only reason to have a woman was to show that the guy wasn’t gay.’ She told Radio Times: ‘It would be nice if someone sent me a contemporary play with an old person in it that wasn’t just about old age.’

Miss Jackson took a break from acting for more than a quarter of a century before her return to the stage to play Shakespeare’s Lear last october.