On October 24, 1993, Robert
Latimer, a Saskatchewan farmer, connected the exhaust pipe of his truck by a
hose to the cab of his truck and turned on the engine. His 12-year old daughter
Laura was in the truck and consequently died of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Laura was severely disabled and
in constant and apparently excruciating pain. Her quality of life was
negligible, if any. Latimer’s action in wanting to put an end to her life was
an act of love and mercy. The Canadian legal system did not see it that way and
he was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with
no parole for 10 years. His conviction that he took his daughter’s life to end
her pain did not get him sympathy with some quarters of Canada especially the
parole board and he served his entire sentence.
Claire Skinner, Toby Stephens and Storme Toolis. Photo:Marc Brenner
The horrifying fate of Laura and Robert
Latimer came to mind while watching A Day in the Death of Joe Egg by
Peter Nichols. The play premiered in 1967 and was partly autobiographical
because Nichols had a severely disable daughter who had died at age 11.
Brian and Sheila have a severely
disabled daughter. Josephine or Joe Egg as they call her cannot speak or walk
and recognizes almost nothing of her surroundings. She is incontinent, requires
almost constant care and has convulsions. Looking after Joe is excruciatingly difficult.
Sheila sees or imagines she is seeing signs of reaction or recognition from
Joe. Brian sees no hope and while hiding his emotions behind bad jokes about
Joe’s condition contemplates bringing her life to an end.
The play is billed as a comedy
and there are some funny lines but the humour is black and the situation
utterly depressing.
Nichols has his characters
address the audience directly beginning with Brian who teaches high school in
Bristol and has a class of nightmarish students. The first scene is a perfect
example of bad class control where he yells at his students for misbehaving, tells
all of them to put their hands on their heads and leaves them there while he
goes home.
Brian and Sheila step off the
stage to re-enact visits to a family physician and a pediatrician who are
hilariously and frightfully inept, unsympathetic and pathetic.
Toby Stephens, Lucy Eaton, Clarence Smith and Claire Skinner.
Photo: Marc Brenner
Photo: Marc Brenner
The rest of the plot is taken by
the visit of a friendly couple, Freddie (Clarence Smith) and Pam (Lucy Eaton) who
want to be helpful but are not. The other visitor is Brian’s mother Grace
(Patricia Hodge) who is obtuse and funny.
Toby Stephens as Brian (he is
usually Bri) and Claire Skinner as Sheila play the wretched and unfortunate parents
who try to deal with a hopeless and horrid situation and try to find ways of
dealing with it. Excellent work by both of them.
The production is done on a
single set by Peter McIntosh representing the living room of Joe’s parents. We
see Joe (Storme Toolis) in her wheelchair sitting there quietly or convulsing.
The actors step down from the stage when addressing the audience or taking the
role of the doctors.
Director Simon Evans does fine
work dealing with a horrible situation and bringing out the humour of the play.
It is a horrifying situation and a dreadful fate for the people involved. And
this is just on stage. Can you imagine it in real life?
I wonder if Latimer is aware of
the play.
___________
A Day in the Death
of Joe Egg by Peter
Nichols continues until November 30,
2019 at Trafalgar Studios, 14 Whitehall, London, SW1A 2DY. www.trafalgarentertainment.com/
James Karas is the Senior Editor - Culture of The Greek Press. www.greekpress.ca
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