Age is a Feeling

by Haley McGee

2022 Edinburgh Fringe First Award Your life from the day you turn twenty-five through to your death. All the chances you get to change course and all the things you leave unsaid. Inspired by interviews with hospice workers, conversations with mystics and trips to the cemetery,  Age is a Feeling  is a gripping story that wrestles with the glorious and melancholy uncertainties of human life. A covert rallying cry against cynicism and regret, it's an uplifting exploration of chance, morality and living with verve. Haley McGee's one-person play was produced by Soho Theatre, directed by Adam Brace, and first performed at Summerhall during the 2022 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where it was adored by audiences, acclaimed by critics, and awarded several prizes including a Fringe First. It transferred to Soho Theatre, London, for several runs. Each performance was shaped by random selections made by the audience. This published edition, illustrated by Jason Logan, contains the full text of the play and offers readers a complete experience, as well as a blueprint for future productions.

Genres: Plays, Theatre

96 pages, Paperback

Published December 19, 2023

About the author

Haley McGee was born and raised in Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario. At seventeen she moved to Toronto, where she received a BFA in Acting and subsequently worked as an actor and playwright until she relocated to the UK in 2016.

Heralded as "the formidable Haley McGee" (The Globe and Mail), her award-winning, critically acclaimed solo shows have played in thirty-six venues in eleven countries and been translated into four languages.

Haley now lives in London, UK, where she thrives on variety—she writes, acts, performs improv, does voiceovers, teaches artists in an array of online courses and hosts The Cost of Love podcast. The Ex-Boyfriend Yard Sale is her first book.

Reviews

[justmiaslife · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Sterne

[Josie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book/play reminds of that Sunscreen song.

"You wish you knew then what you know now. That age doesn't equal intelligence or morality
Age is merely a feeling - you'll feel it"

[Cherlene Tay · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my highlights so far of 2024. I wondered if it would feel as beautiful reading this as compared to my previous experience of the play, but the play only added to this reading experience, her voice and dramatic pauses flashing through my mind. Having the chance to read all 12 stories, instead of just the six, added so much more depth and it felt like I was given a precious chance to peek into 'every' stage of someone's life. Man I haven't cried from a book in ages, but this really pulled at my heartstrings! TEARS

[Miki]

Oh my goodness. I inhaled this without meaning to. The repeated refrains; the momentous moments; the relationships; and the joys, sorrows, and life lessons/realizations the protagonist shared with the audience made this play very easy to read.

Haley McGee's play, Age is a Feeling is structured less as a play and more as a long soliloquy. I spotted this at the library and decided to bring it home with me after reading that McGee is from Kitchener-Waterloo (Ontario, Canada), so close to home for me. I didn't expect to read a traditional dramatic production but something more like Fleabag or The Vagina Monoluges, and that's what I got.

If you're a fan of the aforementioned plays, are interested in a reading about a woman's life from her 25th birthday until her death, and/or enjoy plays in general, then this might be for you.

[Physical, borrowed from library]

[Kaitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Paulina gave this to me for my birthday and I cried because I love Paulina.

[Rosa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely ripped through this play in a couple of hours. Wish I had seen it. Felt myself really on the edge of tears for a lot of it and loved the notes on performance at the end of it.

[Muriel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book that I'd want to see the play, and even experience performing it. Once I pick up the book I can't put it down until I finished it.

The book (play) contains so many nuggets of realistic life experiences from various ages, so realistic that any could conceivably happen to you or people you know. The book creates tension and dramatizes the experiences by, at the same time, articulating first-person feelings to you the reader, which often are left unsaid in real life. I felt the tension ("Age is a feeling", “You can’t foresee the future,” “But you can feel it rushing towards you.”), I wept with the person, I felt alive and expirations with her.

P.S. It's astonishing to read that the author master-read the human age experience as such a young thirty something.

[Peter Baran · Rating 5 out of 5]

The structure of this one-woman play is set up so that the audience picks six out of the potential twelve stories within the script, the others are alluded to but rejected. As such the script is probably the only (cost-effective) way you'll get to hear all of the stories. This was the best post-fringe show I saw last year by a long way, and is a wistfully funny but moving piece about aging and life. Much of that is down to the presentation of course, but the voice is here on the page and if you can't get to see it, it is well worth a read. But terrific marketing hook nevertheless.

[Emma Rund · Rating 5 out of 5]

This play knocked the wind out of me. Beginning on your (yes, second person) 25th birthday, this play takes you through your entire life until your death, detailing every failed dream, abandoned hope, fallen friendship, illness, wrinkle, ache, heartbreak, love, new ambition. and achievement. Beware a spiral of existential dread, but Haley McGee sends a rope down after you offering a way back up to a bright, hopeful future.

I didn’t even see this live. I just read it on my couch and I WEPT. LOUDLY. Through most of the third act.

I need a cold shower and a hard smack in the face followed by a hot cup of tea and a fluffy pillow to recover from this one woman show.

[Megan Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This past week I turned 29, and I rang it in with Age is a Feeling. This read is super quick and was initially intended to be a script for a play. I had never read anything with this writing style, but I truly enjoyed it.

This story is about growing up, and how our decisions in life can lead to multiple different outcomes. That so many times we focus on the wrong things in life, and at the end of the day do these things truly matter? We can’t control time and it’s the one thing we take for granted. She is a feeling, and you’ll feel it.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great little book that chronicles turning 25 and then the years ahead and what might be in store. Having seen the one women show in Toronto I appreciated being able to read the stories as the show highlights 6 of 12 stories - picked up the audience. It brought back great memories of the show. Haley is a clever artist who is wise beyond her years.

It's one I'll go back to from time to time.

[Rae · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first bit was so me and it gives me goosebumps.
And I’ll be 35 in a few months, I’m feeling great. I’ve been so happy that I’m even looking forward to 35, to 40 and more. Still, what more should I do, what else do I need to know .. Anyways, not sure what I’m mumbling but yeah nice little book

[olive ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ✩⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Angelic, warm and delightful

[Millie McGuinness · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly beautiful and emotional.

[Madeline Sadai · Rating 5 out of 5]

had goosebumps the whole time

[Nicholas Clark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this right after seeing the play to get the stories I missed. Definitely a work that I would go back to.

[Trevor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reads like poetry. See McGee perform this live. It’s a real treat.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love this play with every fibre in my body age is literally just a feeling

[Sarra Brio · Rating 5 out of 5]

The way this book/play was meant to find its way to me…wow.

[Emily Farrow · Rating 5 out of 5]

This play made me cry on a bus. I’d love to see it performed live, and cry even more.

[Abby W · Rating 3 out of 5]

74岁，你终于承认那些后悔的事。生活的答案早就分明，但如何度过是你一人的事，始终别忘记，多喝水，多吃蔬菜，多运动。

[Eir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Favourite play ever read it in an hour and a half didn’t loose interest once and sobbed my little heart out

[😼jiriguru · Rating 4 out of 5]

“You wish you knew then what you know now: That age doesn’t equal intelligence or morality. Age is merely a feeling—you’ll feel it—a sense of what’s to come.”

[Phasmid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Your future will come before you, curling up at your feet like a puppy. No matter what you are like, it will understand you and love you.

[Echo XIE · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poetic and sad.