Three sisters sit in a shop dressing room trying to find the perfect dress. One’s an uptight banker, one’s a struggling actress and one’s a divorced mother of two. Cue discussions on love, marriage, ailing parents, regrets, missed opportunities, sibling rivalries, growing older and terminal illness. It’s like Sex In The City reimagined as Chat In The Changing Room with fewer Cosmopolitans. If only there had been Cosmopolitans.
Life is a character driven piece that examines what it means to have reached that point in life when things should have should have settled down. Careers, partners and families have already been established (or not as the case may be) and it’s now a case of simply fulfilling the role life has dealt. Based heavily around that time of one’s life, I fear some of the subtler humour and sharper observations may pass by younger members of the audience.
Still, there are parts that have a universal appeal. The production makes good use of the unique cattiness that exists between sisters, who know everything about one another and aren’t afraid to use it. The double-edged sword of having a shared history with someone is brought up again and again, as is the idea that everyone’s ‘truth’ is relative to their own feelings and experiences. Childhood tiffs and unresolved conflicts rear their ugly heads as they are so prone to do amongst adult siblings who like to think they have outgrown such trivialities. The themes might be a tad trite and predictable, but they are nothing if not recognisable.
Overall this has the potential be a poignant and moving productions for some, but it also feels a bit like having to listen work colleagues’ gossip about their husbands and kids.
