Warning! The people in this show are likely to die at any moment, we are told. Don’t believe them? They are already one fewer in number than they were in rehearsals. But, as the disarming introduction suggests, surely it is better to die on stage than in a nursing home.
The gallows humour in this absorbing hour of documentary theatre at the Avignon festival is outdone only by its unzipped ribaldry. Mohamed El Khatib invited people aged over 75 to tell him about their experiences of sex and love. His resulting show, performed by a motley assortment of non-actors sharing their stories, is joyful, tender, sad, riotous and eye-watering in its kaleidoscopic portrait of pleasure from first fumblings to happy endings.
The cast gather on Frédéric Hocké’s sparsely decorated set, which combines elements of a fabulous ballroom and a run-of-the-mill coffee morning. One 91-year-old woman says she feels like having sex every day and reflects that she “misses the feeling of being missed”. An 80-year-old declares that she has the same desires she had at 20. A man remembers losing his virginity in 1953 and explains how every time he has sex nowadays he thinks it will be the last. In these accounts, sex and death are often a breath away from each other.
A reverie about kitchen masturbation may lead you to wonder where the root vegetables have been the next time you have soup. But while the dominant tone is frank humour, poignancy regularly seeps in. The group’s late friend, Georges, is remembered as his gold-lidded urn is brought on stage. Other losses are considered, such as the years of intimacies denied by strict religion.
The suggestion is made that older people’s sex lives lead them into a reversal of Romeo and Juliet’s tragedy: it is the younger generation who censure them, unable to deal with the idea of their elders’ passions. This has a poignant parallel in one of the personal stories and is also explored in a run-through of the play’s balcony scene. There is a section styled as standup, some karaoke, a dance break and a dash of shade thrown at the venerable Comédie-Française and Odéon. The show asks what we want from theatre yet does not linger on how invisible older people’s sex lives generally are on stage and screen. While the emotional freight of the group’s sexual scenarios is enlightening, the physical sensations are mostly undocumented.
The structure wavers towards the end but the air of mischief is irresistible as this liberated gang – with the additional perspective of 35-year-old nurse Yasmine – recount witnessing illicit care home affairs, enjoying gay sauna rendezvous, cherishing platonic partnerships and making love at all stages of life. It’s a memorable meditation on la mort, both grande and petite.
• At Chartreuse de Villeneuve, Avignon, on 19 July. Then touring until 28 May
