It is often lazily said that, whilst the Victorians could not bring themselves to acknowledge sex, they were quite happy with death and we are the other way round. It is possible that our contemporary discomfort stems from unfamiliarity with the phenomenon: plunging infant mortality rates in the 20th century and the creation of the NHS have done much to remove the Reaper from our daily lives. Laying out the corpse of a relative in a winding cloth and holding a vigil at home are practises that raise eyebrows under the tyrannous rule of Health & Safety.
How long we can continue to distance ourselves from death is another matter. We are living ever longer but pensions are melting away as fast as the ice caps and, if the Tories are to be believed, our hospitals are full of biblical plagues of rats, wasps and maggots. It can only be a matter of time before demographics and the ongoing housing crisis force us to consider living with several generations under one roof. This situation will greatly increase the likelihood of younger people having to directly engage with the messy end of existence.
Kwame Kwei-Armah’s excellent Let There Be Love (back at the Tricycle for August) is just such a story of a man attempting to avoid the dehumanising decline brought on by disease at the end of his long, chequered life. Cancerous and cantankerous Alfred (Joseph Marcell) has fallen out with his daughters, whom he brought up after their mother deserted the family, and is obliged to return to his own house after a disagreement. When he cannot manage alone, his daughters engage Maria, a Polish home help beautifully portrayed by Lydia Leonard, with whom he develops an unlikely but deeply moving relationship: they end up saving each other.
Kwei-Armah’s play is a lot more than a treatise on death and decline; it also explores fragmented families, racism, sexual politics and domestic violence to the same sky high standard of brutal humour and honesty. The dialogue between Alfred and Maria, both immigrants to the UK from vastly different backgrounds and generations, allows prejudices to be voiced and challenged with a frankness that would be impossible for ABC1 characters. Alfred’s bigotry is rendered less offensive by his extraordinarily high degree of compassion and self-knowledge, blinkered though he may be.
The inevitability of Alfred’s death looms large over the second half of the play and the mood becomes increasingly sombre. There is hope in the 11th hour reconciliation between Alfred and his younger daughter Gemma (Sharon Duncan-Brewster) but even Nat King Cole – whose hits provide a sort of running commentary soundtrack – cannot disguise the terrible sadness of yet another life cut off by cancer.
LET THERE BE LOVE by Kwame Kwei-Armah performing at the Tricycle Tricycle 05 August-30 August.
Director Kwame Kwei-Armah
Designer Helen Goddard
Lighting Designer Rachael McCutcheon
Sound by Neil Alexander
Cast includes Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Lydia Leonard and Joseph Marcell
