There are only two things that we can be certain of: that we have been born and that we will die. But what if the second is not the certainty that we have always thought? In this late-night cabaret macabre, Jon Spooner and Chris Thorpe of Unlimited Theatre probe the increasingly widespread scientific view that death is not “a moment, but a process”, and one that in the future may be very prolonged.
It considers the possibility that there could come a time when people won’t die of cancer or heart attacks but be resurrected, when if we really do want to depart this life we will have to kill ourselves, because medical advances will be able to keep us alive, if not forever, at least into extreme old age.
After all, there are already many Lazarus stories, particularly involving children and immersion in icy water. One is told here, a tiny frozen nugget of consummate storytelling that brings a parent’s terror into the room with such vividness it’s as if death has just placed his icy fingers on your shoulder. This is a show that presents itself as part of a conversation around death and dying, not just an entertainment. (Although two men in their underwear talking about death, leading a sing-song and playing a couple of 1970s retro coppers is certainly enjoyable.) There’s a practical element too, with a demonstration of CPR.
If this begins to make Am I Dead Yet? sound like the theatrical version of a public health advert, it’s something more too, an unsentimental but urgent show made by two middle-aged men suddenly aware of staring their own mortality in the face. That makes it poignant as well as informative, and if the show still feels like a work in progress, it is one that reminds us that thinking about dying should be part of everyday life.
• At Traverse theatre, Edinburgh, until 30 August. Box office: 0131-228 1404.
