Foreverland, Southwark Playhouse Borough Review
Christopher York in Foreverland. Photo by Charlie Lyne
Reviewed by Cathie for Theatre and Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review
What would you be prepared to sacrifice if you were offered the chance to live forever, with perfect health and eternally young? Written by Emma Hemingford and directed by Frederick Wieand, this show follows a young married couple who join the new and exclusive Weston program, where after a short surgery and nearly booster injections, you will “never have to make a choice again” as you live in perpetual frolicking youth.
This play’s cast are phenomenal at showcasing every nuance and detail in an intimate theatre space. We see Alice (Emma Macdonald) and Jay (Christopher York) go through pre and post surgery life with pathos and sympathy. They are incredibly realistic in playing this troubled couple and their nuanced connection is what sells this play’s premise so remarkably. Their interactions with Dr Lane (Valerie Antwi) showcases the positive and sinister impact of the program and lend an impressively elegant and clinical air to the proceedings. Their troubled daughter Annie played with fierce independence and passion as an adult by Una Byrne and captivating charm as a child by Emily Butler also works brilliantly with the duo to show how much the characters have changed in a short space of time.
This play does a truly exceptional job at showing not telling of the effects of immortality. You know the route the story will inevitably take but the pathway there is marvellously paved. Through excellent lighting and sound effects by Lily Woodford-Lewis and Jamie Lu the changing of time and location is subtle but adds brilliant layers to this play. We can see the negative toll being a “fixer” takes on the couple, from losing their drive and interest in work to becoming fearful of leaving the house entirely. It’s deeply saddening to especially see the character Alice change from vibrant and loving life to becoming a devastated shell through living too long.
As well as looking at the effects on these two individuals, through their adult daughter Annie we see the impact of the Weston programme on the wider world. From increasing the wealth gap and racist stereotyping on who is chosen, deeply divisive politics between “fixers” and “lifers” and the impact on the environment itself. This aspect of the show is a bit more clunky but then the little space in the Southwark Playhouse does not particularly lend itself to large casts. I imagine this would come across brilliantly if given room in a larger theatre.
This is a truly magnificent play that looks into the heart of bio hacking and how far we could not should push technology to improve our longevity. If you enjoy heartfelt profound plays that will make you question your ethics, your stance on ageism, how you use technology to monitor your health and its influence on your life then this is the play for you.
At Southwark Playhouse Borough until 19 October.
★ ★ ★ ★
