I dont live here anymore examines a relationship which draws to its untimely end. Emma, a beautiful wife, is dying. We are never shown what afflicts her or the original impact of the news but only her steadily declining mental state. Slowly she drifts away from reality when faced by her own mortality. Around the family home she becomes a spectral and haunting presence, as though she is already dead. David the husband, an emotionally problematic character becomes entangled with another love interest, but his wifes lingering presence produces moral and emotional issues, for the whole family. The script and plot for this play are excellent and the audience can see where the writer meant us to feel overpowered and deeply affected. The cast and direction however keep the potential of the play, like the dying wife, present but hardly recognisable. The cast was amateur but largely managed to pull the show off, if lacking a little impact. The part of the son, Lewis, was a detrimental performance, what could have been a powerful section of the play being largely swept aside. There was a strange stage presence of the three narrators, their weak comedy seeming appropriate while the relationship between the main characters was building up but eventually detracting from the later impact of the play, their cheesy grins and cynical jokes falling flat when surrounded by a minefield of morality. The character of what I took to be the still born twin sister of the family was poorly developed, the presence on-stage very noticeable but contributing nothing of value to the plot.Despite this it is a good and largely well written play. The messages that it tries to convey are strong. The central question is how families can cope through such worst case emotional scenarios, but this rides atop a basis of an otherwise light hearted and entertaining show. The cast just manage to pull off this play, but with a little more work it has potential to be much more impressive.
