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Colder than Here
‘I walked in and she's sat in the coffin. In the middle of the living-room floor and she's - she's watching telly and laughing’
Nobody can ignore the fact that Myra is dying but in the meantime life goes on. There are boilers to be fixed, cats to be fed and the perfect funeral to be planned. As a mother researches burial spots and bio-degradable coffins, her family are finally forced to communicate with her, and each other, as they face up to an unpredictable future. Laura Wade's beautifully poised family drama was first performed at Soho Theatre, London.
Nobody can ignore the fact that Myra is dying but in the meantime life goes on. There are boilers to be fixed, cats to be fed and the perfect funeral to be planned. As a mother researches burial spots and bio-degradable coffins, her family are finally forced to communicate with her, and each other, as they face up to an unpredictable future. Laura Wade's beautifully poised family drama was first performed at Soho Theatre, London.
96 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 2, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
February 21, 2020
A play about death, and a very good one.
Myra has bone cancer and, having accepted it is terminal, is approaching her end with dignity and a certain degree of enthusiasm as she organises it. In particular, she wants to select a woodland burial plot, decorate her cardboard coffin, and get her two daughters, Jenna and Harriet, and her husband to talk to each other. By the end of the play - a very nicely ambiguous moment - she has begun the harder process of getting her family to talk that allows us to think they will manage it.
Four good roles, especially for Myra and Jenna who, of the two sisters, is the one who I thought makes the most progress from being a whiner to managing a greater sense of self-determination and a consideration for the world outside her own self-absorption.
Alec (or was it Alex?), Myra’s husband, is a challenging role, I think. The man who cannot fully assess his feelings because he’s used to ignoring them and certainly not talking about them, but who is nevertheless deeply affected by his wife’s imminent demise, has a terrific late opportunity to get it all out as a consequence of a phone call – the sort we’d all like to make, but are perhaps can’t bring ourselves to – with Richard at the end of a Gas Helpline.
I particularly liked the moment when Myra is challenged about trying to organise everything to make it easier for her family when she goes. They’d like to have something to do, they say, because it will give them.... Something to do. And, presumably, Wade intends, make them talk to each other. I have had a similar conversation with my wife. Having thought I’d make it easier for everyone if I paid for and prescribed my end-of-life management, as it were, I was told in no uncertain terms I was not to because she sees organising the funeral and everything as part of a remembering and grieving process. I stand chastened, and think she’s right.
But I would like a woodland burial. Just a hint.
Myra has bone cancer and, having accepted it is terminal, is approaching her end with dignity and a certain degree of enthusiasm as she organises it. In particular, she wants to select a woodland burial plot, decorate her cardboard coffin, and get her two daughters, Jenna and Harriet, and her husband to talk to each other. By the end of the play - a very nicely ambiguous moment - she has begun the harder process of getting her family to talk that allows us to think they will manage it.
Four good roles, especially for Myra and Jenna who, of the two sisters, is the one who I thought makes the most progress from being a whiner to managing a greater sense of self-determination and a consideration for the world outside her own self-absorption.
Alec (or was it Alex?), Myra’s husband, is a challenging role, I think. The man who cannot fully assess his feelings because he’s used to ignoring them and certainly not talking about them, but who is nevertheless deeply affected by his wife’s imminent demise, has a terrific late opportunity to get it all out as a consequence of a phone call – the sort we’d all like to make, but are perhaps can’t bring ourselves to – with Richard at the end of a Gas Helpline.
I particularly liked the moment when Myra is challenged about trying to organise everything to make it easier for her family when she goes. They’d like to have something to do, they say, because it will give them.... Something to do. And, presumably, Wade intends, make them talk to each other. I have had a similar conversation with my wife. Having thought I’d make it easier for everyone if I paid for and prescribed my end-of-life management, as it were, I was told in no uncertain terms I was not to because she sees organising the funeral and everything as part of a remembering and grieving process. I stand chastened, and think she’s right.
But I would like a woodland burial. Just a hint.
September 15, 2019
I loved this play! I read it before auditioning and ultimately being cast as Jenna. The story is so so well told and incredibly relatable. You can see the journey the characters go on, which sounds like a horrendous cliche I know but it’s true! At the beginning the family is very fragmented and Jenna is a selfish tearaway but by the end you can see how they have learnt to love and support one another; Jenna learning this the most. The humour is dark but it is very very funny! Highly recommend this!
July 8, 2023
This is the third play I’ve read by Laura Wade, each of which I’ve throughly enjoyed. This play tells the story of Myra, her family and the expectant death from bone cancer. The way the relationship of the family members are conveyed is oddly familiar and comforting, a beautiful take on how you can find some joy through death
November 6, 2025
I think this beautifully establishes a family in mourning. The characters are wonderfully 3 dimensional and the arcs they all go through in such a short amount of time is wonderful. The recurring graveyard duolouges are gorgeous and the context given so discreetly is great. Love love love. Gives memory of water
April 7, 2019
made me cry and think of those ive lost and process of funerals lol thanks laura!!!
May 3, 2019
Read this play for before performing some scenes from it. Loved the family as they are showing all of their hardships with dealing with losing the mother. It is a genuinely funny and caring play.
December 13, 2020
A hauntingly beautiful play about coming to terms with mortality, both through Myra as she suffers through terminal cancer as well as her family making peace with their impending loss.
February 10, 2022
To say i had to read it for drama i actually really liked it, very engaging, easy read
July 23, 2022
I was researching plays that concerned cancer in the run up to writing something concerning my own experience with childhood cancer, specifically how to balance the comedic parts in a way that doesn't alienate the audience. Cancer, whilst I am comfortable and familiar with it, is one of the most touchy topics to talk to people about with a light-hearted/comedic lens and understandably so! Wade's play was the first example of this style and topic coinciding and I greatly appreciated her writing style and frankness when writing this story.
May 26, 2011
Laura Wade is a beautiful writer. She takes a subject that do a degree has been done to death in theater (I'm so sorry for the pun) and somehow finds new details to it. The scene of mother and daughter going through spices is eye-opening, sad, effortless, simple and completely true.
February 22, 2017
A play that gains in performance what it lacks on the page, keeping a deft balance between poignancy and humour. That said, there were a fair few tears in the audience when we performed it. The focus is Myra's terminal bone cancer, but this is actually a play about life, not death.
January 5, 2013
A typical English attitude towards Death.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews