Beyond Caring review – a low-key meditation on love, loss and care homes

Queen’s Hall arts centre, Hexham
An 83-year-old resident rails against the lack of liberty, settling herself on a bench outside and refusing to return despite legal threats and offers of hot-water bottles and fresh knickers

As protests go, it is no Tahrir Square but perhaps no less resolute. At the age of 83, Queenie Blair has had her fill of being nannied. She objects, in particular, to the care-home stipulation against unaccompanied smoking. The staff do not want her setting fire to herself. She prefers her liberty. So she claims what little control she has, sits on a bench and refuses to come indoors.

She spends much of Christina Castling’s play sitting there, out in the cold, fending off the various attempts to force, cajole and sweet-talk her back to her room. If it is not legal disclaimers and form-filling, it is hot-water bottles and fresh knickers.

Touring until 5 November