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No country for old women: Old Ladies - at Finborough Theatre

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The day after seeing The Old Ladies at the Finborough Theatre , I was describing the play to someone in great detail: about three old ladies who lived in a rickety house in southern England in 1935. Based on Hugh Walpole’s novel and adapted by Rodney Ackland, it is the sort of story with enough believability, humour and mild thriller to stick in your mind. Perhaps it is the lure of this dark, forboding tale of a life without money, to be alone and to be old, that makes you feel attracted to this poverty porn. But then again, given the state of the world, the cost of living, an ageing population, or just the fact that it’s a dog-eat-dog world, it might as well be an every little old lady-for-herself, too. It’s a well-acted and staged piece that moves at a brisk pace, so there isn’t much time to think about it too much. And in the intimate (or should that be claustrophobic?) space of the Finborough, there’s nowhere to avert your eyes. Even if you wanted to.  The scene is a grim Cathe...

The lights are on: hamlet is dead. no gravity. @arcolatheatre


The old keep living and the young are dying. It is all a bit random and unpredictable with these birthdays, deaths and marriages in hamlet is dead. no gravity. It is one of four pieces playing as part of the Volta International Festival at the Arcola Theatre.

The work by German writer Ewald Palmetshofer is both fascinating, challenging and amusing. The work deals with the premise about how people tend to tense up in uncomfortable situations, be it the mother who longs for her mother to be dead, a marriage of convenience, an unexplained death or a brother and sister who seem awfully close. Things gradually build to an unexpected climax.


Sometimes a well-written play just smacks you out of your complacency. It is funny, and there are various scenes where you are reminded that you are watching a play (almost as if the actors are reading the stage directions). But what lingers long after you have left the theatre is how the petty arguments and point-scoring is so important when you have little else to worry about.

It’s an ensemble piece, but each of the cast members gets to shine with their own hilarious monologue, which comes across as if it is a conversation just to you (albeit an awkward one).

The Volta International Festival is an opportunity to bring together award-winning writers from across the world, translating their works into English for the first time.

With a cast of 14 actors staged in both spaces of the Arcola, it is an opportunity for collaboration between award-winning writers from across the world with British artists.

There are four pieces that explore the themes of power, abuse, guilt and memory. Discounts apply if you catch more than one (and it is possible to see more than one piece in an evening).

The four works run through to 19 September however hamlet is dead. no gravity concludes on 12 September.

⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎

Photo credit: Richard Davenport

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