Death Tax review, Royal Court Theatre

Lucas Hnath's new play, Death Tax, is really concerned with the cost of living, and the cost of a life worth living. Maxine is dying in a US hospital. She thinks - with some reason - that because she is elderly, not everything is being done to keep her alive. She believes her greedy daughter is paying to hasten her end in time to avoid a hike in death duties; but despite being bed bound, her mind is active and the prospect of death plagues her. Knowing  that money can buy anything, including people, she is soon bribing the Haitian nurse, Tina, to secure better doctors and more advanced medicines.

Tina takes the bait because she wants to win back her son, who has been abducted by his father.  She entices her occasional lover, the Charge Nurse, Todd, to collude with her subterfuge. Todd takes the bait because he fears being alone and hopes Tina might move in with him.  Like dominoes, the list of matching, and mis-matched, needs stack up.  When Maxine's daughter finally arrives, however, she surprises them all by putting reconciliation above monetary concerns.

Pay As You Go

Death Tax is the latest in a run of six plays at The Royal Court, all of which are rehearsed for one week and performed for one week by members of the same ensemble. As a result there's the odd slip of a word or an accent, but the surprise is how well the pieces work. As Tina, Natasha Gordon has a struggle, because the character is tricksy, with an unconvincing monologue that sets out her stall. Sam Troughton as Todd and, later, as Maxine's grandson, does two dimensional well and is unusually comedic. The best written characters in this four-hander are Maxine - brilliant Anna Calder-Marshall both funny and chastening - and Siobahn Redmond who glitters in her cameo as the middle-aged daughter. The opening and closing scenes are real crackers. The middle sags and loses direction but it's still a provocative ninety minutes.

In conclusion:  What price life, and if we are paying to have our lives prolonged, how do we manage things when the money runs out? What value life, if you're confined to a bed, even for your toilet?  Is there a moral dimension to that decision: are the good more deserving? And what if the next generation cannot afford to support you? Lots to think about.

References
Royal Court Theatre, Tickets

Royal Court Theatre, Sloane Square, London SW1W 8AS    Weekly rep series ends 20 July.