Aaron Bushkowsky’s new play is a tender examination of dying and grief, loving and friendship.

Beautifully acted by an excellent cast and keenly directed by Johnna Wright, the play follows Jackie (Miriam Smith), suffering from Stage 4 cancer and her husband of many years, Ben (Bill Dow). Ben’s best, and probably only, friend is Glenn (Alvin Sanders), once his academic colleague. Quite why this ex-department head, former Professor of Classical Mythology, should now be a none-too-happy greeter at a big-box store is a mystery that gradually resolves. He serves as a sounding board for Ben and his mythological function is neatly satisfying.

Jackie’s bestie, Rachel (Kathryn Stewart), is loathed by Ben. Cold, filthy rich, and as handless at life as he is, she makes an excellent foil for the nurturing Jackie who has clearly been looking after these two for most of her life. And, it seems, her after-life - she asks Rachel to look after Ben and when the opportunity presents itself, she seizes the chance to make them co-habit.

When the scene shifts to a hospital in Mexico offering experimental treatment, the play becomes both funnier – and there have been many good lines already – and more surreal. As Jackie sinks under the treatment, she makes a new friend in Suzi (Ella Wood). Suzi is young, a creature of life and light and some craziness. Jackie takes this orphaned flower-child under her wing even as Suzie grows stronger. The tenderness that develops between them is not a little heart-breaking. In a scene which might be titled “The Dance of the I-V Poles,” Jackie and Suzie twirl in their hospital gowns to the lush strains of the Flower-Duet from Lakme, hilarious and desperately affecting.

In a lovely performance, Miriam Smith infuses Jackie, the best realized character in the play, with deep-seated kindness and solid grit overlain with terror. The reliable Bill Dow grounds Ben in a down-to-earth characterisation of an erudite, ironic professor faced with harsh reality. Alvin Sanders enigmatic Glenn is a quiet and shadowy presence, the antithesis of Rachel’s brash persona. Kathryn Stewart, splashy in scarlet dress, lipstick and stilettos, shows a flash of distress when Jackie tells her of her diagnosis but mostly remains an unlikely best-friend or a partner with Ben.

Ella Wood’s Suzi is a delight. She is full of energy, seriousness and hope and her rapport with Miriam Smith’s Jackie is tangible.

The set by Emily Dotson is plain, consisting of two large flat screens separated by a central space used for exits and entrances and also for projections of horizons or sunsets. They work with Ital Erdal’s lighting to change scene and mood, sometimes subtly and sometimes brashly and bright.

Excellent acting, very funny lines, good speeches, witty writing, entertaining direction, this play will send you away thinking as well as feeling.

©2026 Elizabeth Paterson