Review: AGE IS A FEELING at Soho Theatre Walthamstow

The reason for my visit was the opening of Haley McGee’s AGE IS A FEELING which previously wowed so many viewers at the Edinburgh Festival and now embarks on a limited run at the venue until Saturday — so be quick.

The understated monologue which Ms McGee performs herself, starts gently enough. During the blackout she ascends the sort of laddered seating beloved of Wimbledon umpires, surrounded on a mound more redolent of a Becket landscape which boasts an array of large flowers each adorned with an envelope with a legend written across it. These range from Eggs, to Bus, Leash to Crabapple and others besides. And so we begin.

Essentially a journey through the various stages of life, absolutely everything is gently and purposefully delivered with light observational brushstrokes. What it means to be a child, finding your voice, learning your place in the world and how others think and feel towards you and indeed, how you think and feel towards them. Everyone from mum and dad, siblings, the high flyer at school, lovers (first sexual experience at the back of a bus, trying friends, flat mates, work colleagues and partners, all come under soft scrutiny. Attempts at pregnancy, the ageing process and meaningful companionship found in later life, are neatly introduced into the mix as human milestones come and go, are noted and evaluated, joyously celebrated and sometimes mocked.

The diatribe is nuanced, funny, subtle and always gently and thoughtfully delivered. McGee’s connection with the material demonstrates an innate capacity for observation and commentary which sets this monologue apart from mere storytelling. You genuinely feel you are on a journey with this woman you have only just met but with whom you feel an entirely natural empathy and affinity.