A Play, A Pie and A Pint brings series rosy glow

An intriguing new bedroom drama opened at Aberdeen’s Lemon Tree yesterday evening as part of the autumn A Play, A Pie and A Pint series.

But Miss Veitch’s Roses is no lurid three-in-a-bed sex romp but a beautifully crafted, poignant and quirky tale about ageing, about life, about relationships and about dying.

Though admittedly, it is about three people.

The 90-minute play is set in the bedroom of the feisty yet bedridden 90-year-old Miss Veitch, who really doesn’t want to go gentle into that good night but has little choice. From her bed, she tries to act as matchmaker for her two carers – Linda (daytime) and Euan (night-time) – who are both people wounded by life.

The magnificent Jenny Lee holds centre stage – literally – with a confident, commanding and charming performance as Miss Veitch which reaches out beyond the bedroom confinement to conjure up the picture of a woman who has lived life well, as an editor with a prestigious publishing company, yet now fears she is fading into a smaller version of herself.

The portrait is painted of a successful woman living in a beautiful home with a great many rooms, which she can no longer use and whose life is governed by a niece who stands to inherit all.

Jenny is ably supported by Angela Darcy as Linda and Paul James Corrigan as Euan, who both give excellent performances as the elderly lady’s carers – I can’t be the only one who willed them to find happiness together!

Dying and the complexity of someone’s – anyone’s – final years is not an easy subject to talk about, yet alone write about, but playwright Jane Livingstone deals with the issues sensitively and with a lot of insight, without resorting to sentimental schmalz.

The play is on occasions sad, but never sombre and often laugh-out-loud funny.

Miss Veitch’s Roses runs until the end of the week, with Thursday and Saturday matinees, and is not-to-be-missed quality drama.

It kicks off Aberdeen Performing Arts’ autumn season of A Play, A Pie and A Pint, and will be followed by One Thinks of it All as a Dream by Alan Bissett from November 1 to 5, then Moving Pictures by Philip Differ, from November 29 to December 3.

All this teatime drama, with a scrumptious pie and a free drink – what better way to end a day!

Roses is a bedroom drama, no three-in-a-bed sex romp but a quirky, poignant tale about ageing