The best-known retirement developer is McCarthy & Stone, with 100 schemes now selling in the UK and 60 more opening this year. It builds 65 per cent of the country's retirement properties, mainly flats with adapted interiors featuring ramps, handrails and alarms.Similar approaches have been taken by more upmarket developers such as English Courtyard and Beechcroft, which build larger proportions of houses. Some foreign developments are being built for older buyers, too. One is The Lakes in Barbados, calling itself a "continuing care retirement community". Advantages of these developments include warden and security systems, good transport routes and easy-to-maintain fixtures and gardens. The advantages are that you live in a regenerated city centre which has good facilities and entertainment. And even mainstream flats are now well equipped for older users, thanks to changes in building regulations.But the disadvantages are that most of these properties have been designed for investors to buy and rent out to young professionals, who form the vast majority of residents in many developments.
Capital appreciation is also uncertain as many city centres are seeing gluts of identical apartments coming on sale at the same time.A typical example is Clarence Dock, in Leeds city centre, a Crosby development with many older downsizers among its residents enjoying local bars, restaurants and a canal water-taxi. (£115,000 to £430,000, Knight Frank, 0113 297 9040).The bungalow by the seaThis is the retiree's dream, but these days a bungalow is hard to come by."People want bungalows more than any other property. But the drive for more high-density building means the proportion of detached houses built privately fell from 46 per cent in 1999, to 27 per cent in 2003, and probably less last year," says Pierre Williams, of the House Builders' Federation."The retired pay highly for this type of property on a price-per-square-foot basis, because a bungalow takes so much land," says Hamptons estate agency.Bungalows are also a dying breed because developers love to buy them, knock them down and use the sites for small blocks of flats, usually with the support of planners anxious to meet local housing targets But if you can get one, the advantages are numerous. For Davies, she was the only choice: "Penelope is seen as very soft and sensitive, and the character of Bernarda Alba is the opposite of all that.
But for me her playing that part was revelatory, it seemed to be completely obvious. She is an extraordinary actress."Wilton returns to the National after a 10-year absence, drawn in part by Hare's treatment which she calls "very much alive, visceral and of-the-moment".And what does Davies think were Lorca's intentions? "This is a richly dark and cruel play where people behave badly towards each other because they are frustrated with the awful orthodoxy of the lives they are leading. "I was thrilled," says Davies, who will direct the new version "He had caught hold of something very vital. This isn't a laugh-a-minute play, but when people behave badly, I find it absurd and therefore comedic."For Penelope Wilton, who will play the title role, the play is full of contemporary relevance "It isn't just about classical Spain. Davies asked him to look again: could it be that there was a funny side to the story of five young girls forced by their widowed mother to observe a five-year period of mourning? Davies proved persuasive, and Hare rewarded him with a script harnessing the savage humour missing in previous adaptations. It's rather a shocking play about family, and how you can't repress the human spirit. Davies agrees: "It is completely recognisable as a family getting themselves into an incredible situation A bit like an extended version of The Three Sisters.
