Theatre review: Die! Die! Die! Old People Die!, Summerhall, Edinburgh
Die! Die! Die! Old People Die!, Summerhall * * *
The experience of watching it, however, falls somewhere in between; that there are cheap laughs to be had in the fact that very old people are physically slow and frail - and possibly stuffily right-wing, so the stereotype has it - but that their internal life reveals a wealth of pathos.
Writers, directors and performers David Woods and Jon Haynes play an extremely elderly couple, who sit down at the dining table and potter for a while, before he offers her a drink. These events take up most of the play, occurring in an extreme, shufflingly stylised slow motion which is wonderfully performed, despite outstaying it's welcome before long (although a twitching fast-forward sequence in which he fetches and lays out a tablecloth is beautifully done).
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Hide AdThen she dies - possibly as a result of his sexual attentions - and another stand-out scene emerges with his funeral eulogy for her, in which he produces a sheaf of messages received since her death. Some of them are baldly sexual, and one is a reminder from Npower. It’s tough to stay respectful and not laugh at that.
DAVID POLLOCK
Until 25 August