“When we become aware of life's fragility, it can refocus us as we move forward or change the trajectory of our life”, Haley McGee told me on a rainy Friday afternoon.
Her one-woman show, Age Is A Feeling, received rave reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe back in 2022. Off the back of this success, she is now gearing up for a three-day run at Soho Theatre Walthamstow next month.
Age Is A Feeling is both written and performed by McGee and follows the life of a woman from the age of 25 until her death. The play is inspired by “hospices, mystics and trips to the cemetery” — but despite the rather macabre subject matter, McGee doesn’t want attendees leaving the theatre feeling gloomy.
“It's not a comedy, but it's not not funny”, McGee told East End Review.
“Ultimately, it is an uplifting, hopeful, enlivening show about the fact that you and everyone you know is going to die.
“I hope [the audience] leaves feeling glad to be alive. And anybody who's consumed with feelings of cynicism or regret leaves with a sense that the die isn't cast. I also hope the show kind of feels like a big hug, that there's a sense of consolation in it”.
McGee is particularly excited about bringing the show to Walthamstow. The Waltham Forest local said she had long hoped to work with Soho Theatre before her dream became a reality.
She became involved with the organisation when its then associate director, Adam Brace, saw an early iteration of Age Is A Feeling. “It was first performed as a tiny little 15 minute piece for the 25th anniversary of the Camden People's Theatre”, McGee continued.
“[Brace] happened to be in the audience. He basically came up to me and said, ‘I want to commission this piece. I want to work on it with you’. And so we started working on it together”.
Brace tragically passed away in 2023 at the age of 43. “It really sucks that he died”, McGee added.
“It was very interesting, having had all these conversations with him about mortality [while working on the play]. I had a lot of insights into his feelings around those things”.
McGee said Brace’s passing had a profound impact on the way she performs the play, ”but it's hard to kind of put a finger on exactly how”.
She said: “It's just interesting when life imitates art. It's a show about how, when you realise how fragile life is, you, it becomes more vibrant”.
As for the theatre itself, she said: “It's such a magical space. You can kind of see the layers of history preserved in the paint, in the ceiling, in the aesthetic of the theatre itself.
“There's a real sense of history and beauty, of something almost dying being brought back to life that you just feel in the atmosphere of the venue itself.
“I think it lends so much to this show in particular”.
Uniquely, no two performances are ever the same — there are 12 possible stories viewers may see on any given night. “Every audience chooses six of those 12 stories”, McGee added.
“So the show is different every night, and it depends on the audience's selections, the shape of the show that they receive.
“I'm the kind of performer who does a little bit better when I don't exactly know how everything's going to go, and so that element of discovering it with the audience sort of forces me to stay present in the moment and not go on autopilot”.
And, ultimately, isn’t being in the moment what living is all about?
Age Is A Feeling. 5 — 7 March. Soho Theatre Walthamstow, E17 4QH. Book here.
