THE wider media has finally cottoned on to the large lonely elderly population.

But Franz Xaver Kroetz’s play focuses on the forgotten younger generation, following a woman’s silent routine as she returns home and makes her dinner.

“The script is about six or seven pages of stage directions,” says William Bowden, co-artistic director of theatre company Thrust.

“It’s a play I was aware of but it is rarely performed in this country. It’s very dark subject matter, which I was really interested in.”

To approach the play Bowden sat down with actor Rachel Wood to fully flesh out her character.

“We have mapped out her whole life on paper,” says Bowden. “We’ve looked at as much detail as possible about her, and are doing a lot of dressing in the space to represent certain elements of her life. We’re adding photographs, family heirlooms and things like that.”

Bowden carefully picked out the location, looking at what a woman on the minimum wage in Brighton might be able to afford on her own. The results are very intimate.

“There are quite small corridors and little rooms,” he says of the venue which will hold up to 15 people for each performance.

“We wanted the audience to be so close they could hear her breathing. It’s a really interesting dynamic to be that close to somebody who you can’t have any impact on what they are doing.”

The location will add to the isolation the character feels in the story.

“I think we all live on a street with somebody feeling in a similar way,” he says. “I live in London and don’t know my next door neighbours, or the people who lived there before them.

“When you leave the space the street is extremely quiet and residential – hardly anybody is out there. It’s that idea of being surrounded by people, but alone. Surviving as opposed to living.”

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