Simon Ward reviews The Elephant In The Room at the Waterloo East Theatre

Peter Hamilton’s latest play, now presented in Waterloo East under Ross McGregor’s direction after a run last year at the Tabard Theatre, is a kaleidoscopic magical mystery tour encompassing life, death and all points in between. It has a kind of all-embracing spirituality wherein Ganesh, the Hindu Elephant-God, sits happily alongside angelic choirs of cherubim and seraphim. Yama, Hindu God of Death (Tanya Katyal) has a prominent role. It is clear that much work has gone into this richly evocative production, with design by Lucy Moxon, art design by Susie Hamilton and Lucy Ioannou, sound design by Alistair Lax and Michael Bird and lighting design by Johnathan Simpson. It really pays off as whole worlds are magically conjured up, and just as quickly evaporated to be replaced by fresh delights. And you will really believe that there is an elephant in the room, thanks to James Maxwell’s animation.

The plot centres around an old people’s home – the ironically named Gethsemane Garden Village Retirement Home – whose residents David (Ian Crowe), Rosemary (Annette Holland), Judith (Sian Howard) and Johnnie (Moray Treadwell) are more or less happily biding their time until the inevitable end. Their world is abruptly disrupted, however, by the arrival of a twenty-something who wants to check himself in. Suddenly the lust for life which they all thought had been distinguished years ago is rekindled – on behalf of Ashley Davenport (Richard Linnell). They are adamant each in their own way – sitting around all day in well-appointed tedium is no way to spend a life.

The elderly residents are brilliantly drawn and played – they each have their own eccentricities but they make allowances for each other, even as they clearly get on each other’s nerves and talk at cross-purposes. They all have reasons to be disappointed, frustrated or ashamed about aspects of their lives, and are now, perhaps, trying in some way to make amends or to live their last days more fully. Hamilton is unflinching in portraying the frustrations of old age, but he does so with tenderness and humour. It is telling, and touching, that many of the characters still refer to their long-deceased parents as Mummy or Daddy – the childhood bonds reawakening as their own end approaches.

So Ashley’s attempt to shut himself away from the world is more or less shouted down, not least by the intrusion of the outside world in the form of Kim-Ly (Angie Lieu), one of the home’s nurses who takes a shine to him. And his general languor and ennui is put into harsh perspective by the real struggles of Kim-Ly and her co-workers Miguel (Ryan Crellin-Simpson) and Mr Krish (Jamie Zubairi). This is a funny and moving play, lavishly produced, which manages to find an uplifting message in the face of decrepitude and death.

The Elephant In The Room runs at the Waterloo East Theatre, Brad Street, London SE1 8TN until Sunday 27th October.