‘Why are we given so much life?’ asks Willy Russell’s Shirley Valentine. ‘The Lounge’ poses the same question in a different way.
Set in a care home, in its lounge area to be precise, Inspector Sands offering takes us through a day in its life, and that of some residents.
Subtly political and never less than shrewd in its portrayal of staff and residents alike, ‘The Lounge’ is an opportunity to consider both how ‘the old’ are treated and how we ourselves may fare in a globalised world where others are paid to do what we cannot or will not do.
Lucinka Eisler, Giulia Innocenti and Ben Lewis create pitch-perfect performances, whether of bored care workers, confused residents or confused visitors. Theirs is an all-to-real world gone only slightly madder than the one it seeks to represent.
Whether struggling to keep sane and find a way back to the home they no longer have, waging war on the neighbouring patient who hogs the TV remote or desperately searching for a relative whose whereabouts no-one seems to know or care about, the cast reflect reality with consummate comic timing and aplomb.
The questions this production raises, however, are serious ones. How do we adequately care for growing numbers of elderly when we are prepared to pay so little? Our notions of ‘dignity’ collapse in the face of reality, but instead of acknowledging contemporary realities, we choose to ignore yet one more crisis looming before us.
Inspector Sands are never less than inventive in their approach to their subject matter, and here they appear to have found a way of making light of darkness into which we will all move in time.
All if which may make ‘The Lounge’ sound grimmer than it is. Thanks to the work of Eisler, Innocenti, Leis and their team, there’s comedy a-plenty amidst the tragedy in this thoughtful and thought-provoking piece.
Times: 3-27 August (not 4 or 15), 3.30pm. £15 (£12)