The Dying of the Light

If the flyer is anything to go by The Dying of the Light should be a fascinating production; a photograph displays a plump and wrinkled grey-haired woman lying provocatively on a pile of garbage about to go up in flames – and she is naked. Laid bare in a suggestive pose, this figure promises a play which challenges, disturbs and strips bare our conceptions of old age – however, the promise is never fulfilled. Instead The Dying of the Light stumbles towards burnt-out banality.

Boasting a cast of six whose combined age is 418, ("probably the oldest group at the Edinburgh fringe") David Pattison’s new play explores the frustration and social isolation felt by three pensioners in the North of England. Angered by being ignored they arrange a peaceful march; but gentle comedy soon turns to horror as one 75-year-old turns to petrol to protest.

Inspired by Dylan Thomas’ exhortation that "Old age should burn and rave at close of day," Pattison’s sentiment is a noble and important one. To explore the lives of the elders of our generation has never been so pertinent with the problems faced by pensioners today. Sadly this attempt is sullied by sloppy direction, scruffy set design and shoddy acting. The cast scuffles and hobbles, stumbling over lines and scene changes in what feels like a desperately amateur production.

The Dying of the Light is a messy tribute to Dylan Thomas’ moving masterpiece – while his poem continues to burn as a classic, this frayed and flawed piece barely ignites.