ED2016 5/5 Reviews ED2016 Theatre Reviews

The Lounge (Inspector Sands)

By Jane Berg | Published on Saturday 20 August 2016

This care home lounge is a nightmarish limbo of nauseating mealtimes, patronising carers and ghoulish, remote-hogging residents. In this atmosphere of visceral tension, it’s almost a relief to discover that it’s nonagenarian Marsha Hewitt’s last day alive. The performers deliver a menagerie of characters through expert physicality, supported by excellent sound and set design. But this new work by Inspector Sands doesn’t just deliver surreal, dark humour. As the actors make liquid shifts from young to old it’s hard to resist harrowing moments of realisation, about mortality, and about the need for revolution, a “silver rising” in the care industry. Be brave and confront the future in this dreadful lounge: it’s a moving and important story.

Summerhall, until 27 Aug.
tw rating 5/5 | [Jane Berg]