Don and Pam are a middle-aged couple who have shared a wonderful life together but find themselves in a situation where Pam is leaving Don; prematurely, permanently, pre-emptively. Her death is inevitable but, as Pam sees it, doesn’t have to be painful or prolonged – there is something she can do to make sure of that. It is a decision that Pam has made and Don is having an understandably hard time coming to terms with it.
Writer Tom Holloway has shaped two characters that are likeable, intelligent, funny, strong, and scared. Under the direction of Yasmin Gureeboo, Jacqy Phillips and Peter Green bring this loving couple to life. Their portrayal highlights the sweetness and humour that can be present in such a situation while also recognising the ultimate seriousness of it. Their chemistry is wonderful and each creates a character with whom it is easy to empathise; however, at times the energy and emotion of some discussions didn’t quite hit the expected peak intensity.
The set from designer Manda Webber, creates an atmosphere of a world with little life left in it, but in a beautiful and natural way, highlighting the cyclical changes of life and the inevitability of death. The script is a mixture of scenes in the present and the past and Gureeboo has made the choice to present the flashback segments in film format, projected on the set, rather than live on stage. While this is effective on several levels – it differentiates the timing of scenes well, removes the need for scene changes and enables some interesting directorial links to be made between the characters on-stage and their earlier on-screen selves – and is done to a high quality, it also means that the audience-actor connection of theatre is diminished somewhat for large chunks of the story.
For anyone who has had someone close to them receive news of a terminal illness and faced the inescapability of the situation, this play and the performances in it will be gut-wrenching, heartbreaking and may leave you feeling emotionally shattered. For those that have not, the characters and their plight are still likely to resonate as we all realise it could be us, or someone we love, in that situation one day.
Kryztoff Rating: 4K
Recent Comments