Robert Tanitch reviews Visitors at Bush Theatre, London W12
Barney Norris’s Visitors observes the physical and mental decline of an elderly couple who have spent a long and happy marriage on a farm in North Wiltshire.
But with the onset of the wife’s dementia it looks as if they will have to sell the farm and she will have to go into a home.
There is nothing more distressing than watching the onset of dementia in family and in those who are dear to us
“My play is about love and is made with love,” says the 27-year-old Norris, and he takes his inspiration, in part, from his grandparents who will be celebrating their 72nd wedding anniversary this Christmas day.
The script is gentle, humane, quiet in its humour and understated in its pathos and compassion. The intimacy of the Bush Theatre serves the play well.
The play is directed by Alice Hamilton. She and Barney Norris are the artistic directors of the touring Up In Arms Company which is presenting the play.
The main pleasure of the production is watching the performances of Linda Bassett and Robin Soans, which are so tender, so sensitive and so very real. The actors are so convincing in their love for each other that they do not seem to be acting at all.
The visitors of the title are their middle-aged son (Simon Muller) and their young carer (Eleanor Wylde) who is in her twenties. Norris observes their differing responses and reactions to the care of the aged. It is a play many audiences are going to be able to identify with very easily.
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