Twenty first century Western culture is geared towards the young, the beautiful and the energetic.  In a country with an increasingly aging population we tend to forget our elders, never mind treating them with respect.  

New Riga Theatre’s Long Life features five young actors as old age pensioners.  They take on the physicality of five elderly men and women living in a sheltered housing block.  Through exercises and improvisation this piece has been developed into nearly two hours of fascinating and funny non verbal theatre.  There is some singing, grunting, hacking and wheezing but no conversation, so to speak.  We enter their cluttered world of keep sakes and routine where intricate attention to detail is taken over past times and daily tasks.  The audience is invited to spend a day in the life with these five frail characters who are so often forgotten by our Youth-adoring culture.  

The piece is slow but beguiling, just like the characters themselves.  Once you realise there is little story to the piece it becomes like a day at the zoo – watching for the carefully observed moments recreated that spur many a giggle from the audience.   

The Hub (0131) 473 2000
Wednesday 23 August – Saturday 02 September at 7.30pm
(not Tuesday 29)