Synopsis Pam is ill. She is going to get more ill. And then she is going to die. It is time to take matters into her own hands, but the pills don't seem to be working, her memories won't stop and her husband isn't ready to let her go. An uplifting testament to the indomitability of the human spirit and the power of love, looking unflinchingly at what it takes to choose to die and what it means for those we intend to leave behind. Downstairs
I'm bemused that there seem to be no official reviews for this piece yet, being as it is a remarkable new play with stunning performances - understated, direct and devastating.
Admittedly (as an online reviewer has said elsewhere) your response to this piece may very much reflect your own feelings and experience of death. For me - who had gone along with a friend and not even bothered to ask what we were seeing (a mistake) - I had a reaction I've never felt at any other play, finally resulting in heaving sobbing as the cast came on for the curtain call. Embarrassing, until I realised most of the audience was similarly moved.
Perhaps I feel a little too close to the subject matter, but even objectively (and I admire the reviewer above for being able to maintain a critical distance), this is a beautifully crafted, deceptively simple piece, detached and resistant to sentimentality, thus somehow giving the events even more power.
I can't recommend it highly enough, albeit with an obvious warning.... - Chris
02 Feb 12
This is a euthanasia drama, and as the drama moves along predictable lines, it is mostly lacking in suspense. The performances, in this two-hander, are excellent however, and the piece works best as a character portrait. Bill Paterson plays against his own commanding voice type, embodying Don, a man who is anything but commanding. His wife tells him what to do, and what his own memories are, as his own authority and memory are fading. The sense that Don is losing himself, along with his wife (she being the repository of their shared memories) is masterfully realised by Patterson's tender portrayal. The scene where he sleeps outside her door is movingly underplayed. As his wife, Pam, Dearbhla Molloy captures the essence of a loving yet controlling woman. The scene where she wails with despair after taking euthanasia drugs is powerful precisely because it is her admission that though she can control some elements of her death, even she has not the power to prevent it. Although the action of the play is a little too predictable, it has a very satisfactory ending. - steveatplays
Eton Avenue Swiss Cottage Inner London London NW3 3EU
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Swiss Cottage (LT)
Description
[TMA] member. Housed for 40 years in a 'temporary' prefab. In 1999, the Arts Council of England awarded the theatre a National Lottery grant of £9.86 million to fund a new building. The new Hamstead Theatre opened in 2003. The Hampstead Downstairs is a studio space dedicated to new writing.
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