On The One Hand[author-post-rating] (3/5 Stars)

The average life expectancy in the UK has now hit 79.5 years we are told in The Paper Birds’s new piece, On The One Hand.  Depicting the relationships between several generations of women from one family, this slow-burning piece examines what it is to be a multifaceted woman, and the long stretch of time that passes for a lifetime. The ensemble, all female and spanning several decades, recount instances from their lives and the bonds that form between mother and daughter, across several generations, is laid out across a table for the audience to observe.

It is a carefully constructed piece, examining the conflicts and life decisions that the women have had to undergo, as their characters or as people themselves. These questions: of marriage, careers, education and so forth are universal, but there is something intrinsically feminine about them. On The One Hand lays the bonds between generations of women upon a surgeon’s table waiting to be examined, cut and sewed back together. At times the piece is raw and resonates with the audience, at other times it feels distant.

The staging, a series of pieces of household furniture half-suspended from a frame, is at first a fascinating use of design, but as the piece progresses and the women climb and sit across it, their legs dangling in the air or showing flexibility as they wiggle between items, it ultimately becomes a hinderance. It becomes a static set that the cast struggle to manoeuvre around, and at times it feels that the direction reflects the idea that they’ve been told to play and experiment without actually finding any purpose. Where the set does come together is through moments where you can clearly see the relationship between cast, their generations are lined up, or one bathes another, telling a story of their life. During these moments we’re drawn into the relationships and can forgive the otherwise frustrating design.

Where On The One Hand shines in its depiction of age and time, how someone can grow old without realising. There’s a strong message of being the person you’ve always been, because that’s all we can be, it’s just time that is moving us forwards. There’s a particularly poignant voiceover from one of the older of the actresses discussing the relationship between her age and the stage, how the roles are disappearing and she can’t play the grandmother on the stage yet. Perhaps, she suggests, it’s time to leave the stage altogether. A reference to Romeo and Juliet sums this up perfectly: “I was Juliet, and now I’m the Nurse” – as we age, we take on new roles, whether we’re ready or not.

This is where On The One Hand captures you, through its gentle teasing out of ideas of age and femininity, and embracing changes of mind and body. It takes some time to sink into the work, but by the end it wins you over.

One The One Hand is playing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival until 24th August. For more information and tickets, see the Edinburgh Fringe website.