Life Without Me

The setting, like its storyline, is simple: it’s a hotel lobby complete with couch, table and reception counter, making it the perfect place for people to come, go or loiter, but not remain. It is in this space where people “blow in” from the street, not altogether wishing to stay at this dingy and charmless establishment, but being forced to remain once arrived. This is their crossroads, their purgatory as it would seem, where they must come to discover where they are going – for at this point in their lives, they only truly know where they’ve come from.

The play opens with its first blown in visitor, John (Drew Fairley). He’s in a huff and soaked to the bone, having unsuccessfully tried to leave town for days. He can’t seem to hail a cab, catch a bus or find the train station. It’s like they no longer exist for him anymore. He is greeted by the hotel’s clerk Nigel (Martin Broome), an oddball character determined to uphold no hospitality or pride in his establishment. After much tedious debate over the lack of an available room, he finally checks John in.

That tediousness is another prominent element of Life Without Me – the play runs for two hours and 30 minutes, with an intermission, and feels just as long. In this time, we meet five more characters, each determined to wax on about their backstory and lack of direction as much as the other, and each only managing to complete their character arc by pottering and complaining and consulting one another. There is Roy, a linen salesman; Alice, a lonely elderly woman; Tom and Ellen, a couple looking to rekindle their marriage; and Mrs. Spence, a woman who refuses to believe that her husband is dead. She is played charmingly by Annie Byron and is the standout performer of the night amid some very amiable actors and a satisfactory story.

Photo: Stephen Reinhardt

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