LIFE is set in a drawing class with audience gently invited to draw, doodle or simply watch the story emerge. There are four onstage seats at easels for those who wish to be close to the action.
LIFE is funny, fascinating, fantastical and unique. LIFE is about all of us, sharing one difficult certainty. It deals with this through memory, storytelling and art. LIFE is about abuse and how we hide it; female ageing, the male gaze; women as objects; humanity’s need to frame experience as folk tale; Time and how we experience it, our legacy through art, our faces and the stories they tell; our personal truth and whether we hide or show it; LIFE is about love and respect. It is about the collective act of making theatre.
SYNOPSIS:
Estelle arrives late and flustered to model for a drawing class. The young Artist is already warming up his students (the audience). He seems a little preoccupied but keen to get on with the session. Estelle considers herself to be an acclaimed ‘life’ model (nude). As an older woman, she is glad to be invited to model naked once more. But The Artist stops Estelle from unbuttoning her stunning dressing gown. There is a misunderstanding. Today she must model clothed. Estelle is disappointed and insulted. The Artist seems both ageist and sexist. The class proceeds with Estelle reluctantly modelling for ‘portrait and clothed figure’, deeply disgruntled, especially when she notices The Artist has not set a timer. In her long career she has not met such negligence. But she is a professional, so holds the pose despite the pain, distracting herself with lively memories and daily observations. Meanwhile The Artist gently encourages her to tell her life story, while in pose, to ensure the drawing students can ‘capture’ her as best as possible. But, deeply frustrated, Estelle leaps from stillness into wild physicality, commanding the stage with her daring life stories. Although each account seems deeply personal, carrying pain, abuse, hope and three near death experiences, it is unclear how much is true and how much confabulation. Can we see it in her face?
SPOILER ALERT – THE FOLLOWING STORY OUTCOME IS NOT FOR PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL. IT IS SHARED HERE FOR VENUE HOSTS ONLY. THANKYOU
The revelation of the mysterious Artist’s true nature comes slowly. For those who wish to find them, the clues are there from the start. For others it is the shift in tone and content which bring a realisation this is Estelle’s last class. Although Estelle, storyteller and fantasist, begins to suspect, she creates three ploys to avoid the inevitable, each weaker than the previous one. Estelle has literally grown close to Death over the course of the class, and he admits to having followed and admired her all her life. He can even finish her sentences. He has spent a long time looking at her but now they look at each other equally. They dance fondly together in a wild haze of colour. Finally, the Artist reveals the timer of her life, a gold pocket watch the audience have seen him checking all along. This is agony for him, as is every death. He is desperate for Estelle to understand, like a child confessing to a parent. He must explain to her that she was knocked down in the street on her way to the class. She is unconscious. During the class, Time has been unreliable.
‘Such a moving and fascinating piece of theatre. I loved the way it gradually revealed itself’ ‘darkly humourous with a riveting ending’ Audience reviews.
As the class ends, so does the play and so does Estelle. However, like an art work ‘we stop, but we are never finished’. And today’s drawings will live on.
Some people choose not to draw. Some draw or doodle, taking their pictures home or putting them on their social media. Some people leave their pictures with us for our own social media galleries which we post between performances.
‘I loved the drawing and the invitation to draw. Poignant, moving, relevant, wow’
‘really absorbing show- loved the combination of drawing and being drawn in’ Audience reviews
