This study contributes to an emerging body of research that combines new mobilities and gerontological perspectives. Most previous studies on older adults’ mobilities have analysed data collected at a single point in time and there is a need for studies that explore the meanings of movement and non-movement over time, especially in relation to unexpected life events. This work explores the meanings of older adults’ abruptly changing everyday (im)mobilities before and during the Covid-19 pandemic. It draws from qualitative interviews conducted with 11 older adults in a Finnish suburb in autumn 2019 and spring 2020, and focuses on grocery shopping, which most of the participants did themselves before the pandemic, but not during it. The findings provide insight into how meanings of everyday (im)mobilities are formed as older individuals (re)negotiate their relationships with their changing places of ageing. The participants’ views of their disrupted everyday mobilities were shaped by active person–place engagements. On one hand, the findings highlight that individuals are not at the mercy of their circumstances; they possess agency that can enable maintaining a sense of self and independence even in restricted mobility situations. On the other hand, the findings reveal relationalities that explain why sudden mobility loss often leads to diminished wellbeing. The relational nature of the meanings of (im)mobility implies that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to supporting older adults who face mobility difficulties while ageing in their homes. It is crucial to recognise the diversity of older adults and to support their individual lifestyles.

In this article Kris Darby examines the significance of walking on the theatre stage, responding to the growth of pedestrian performance as an area of research. He seeks to provide a point of expansion for a field that is still largely concerned with site-specific works where audiences walk during the performance. Beginning with a discussion of the possible reasons for the neglect of walking on stage, the author addresses the prominence of walking and the journey as a rehearsal tool employed by a wealth of practitioners. As further justification for the inclusion of the stage in pedestrian performance research, a series of historical case studies is presented which spans over a century of theatrical history, and includes an examination of the audience's pilgrimage to Richard Wagner's Parsifal (1882) and the ‘epic flow“ of Erwin Piscator's treadmill in Good Soldier Schwejk (1927). The significance of walking in Samuel Beckett's life is also explored through the ‘inward walking’ of Footfalls (1976), and the proscenium staging of Matthew Earnest's Wanderlust (2010) is made significant through its critique of supermodernity. The author concludes by arguing that an immobile audience can kinaesthetically empathize with the performers, embarking on their own internalized journey within the theatre. Kris Darby is a Post-Doctoral Teaching Fellow in Drama at Liverpool Hope, whose research interests concern the relationship between walking and performance.

The present study was conducted to investigate whether several GABAergic drugs could affect immobility in the behavioral “despair” test (swimming test). The subacute (3 injections) treatment with the GABA-B agonist baclofen 0.5 mg/kg (BC05) partially antagonised the antiimmobility action of imipramine (IMI), whereas muscimol 0.00125 mg/kg (MU ; GABA-A agonist) did not affect the imipramine effect on immobility. The highest doses of baclofen alone increased immobility time, and no effect of muscimol alone was observed on this measure. Other experiments indicated that different doses of δ-α-aminovaleric acid (a GABA-B antagonist and GABA-A agonist) or progabide (a GABA A/B agonist with clinical antidepressive properties) did not modify immobility time. On the other hand, sodium valproate (VPA), chronically administered, was effective in reducing the time of immobility of rats in the swimming test, at doses which did not alter motor activity in an open field test. Since there is evidence indicating that valproate can be considered as a GABA-mimetic agent, the present data is consistent with other results showing an antidepressant-like activity of agents which enhance GABAergic transmission.