Getting Through It by Michael Rosen at The Old Vic

"At the age of 18, Rosen's son, Eddie, died of meningitis. In the first half of Getting Through It, on the first stop of its national tour at The Old Vic, Rosen recounts the unbearable story of that loss. He remembers the last interactions he had with his son, the discovery of his dead body, the mourning and the grief that followed."

"Rosen does not speak with heavy emotion, but matter-of-factly. He takes a seat and begins his story without ceremony or dramatisation. He reads for a while, discards a one-sided sheet of paper a verse of a poem, loosely formed before moving onto the next. Rosen's voice is familiar from the reading of children's books, and his tale feels at times like just another bedtime story. Among the grief are small jokes and delicate observations of the quotidian."

An 18-year-old son died of meningitis; the last interactions, the discovery of his body and the ensuing mourning are central. The account uses a restrained, matter-of-fact tone that includes small jokes and delicate observations of everyday life. A grieving woman in Montparnasse Cemetery who lost her son in a car accident prompts reflection on future mourning. Domestic images such as a decorated postcard and streetlamp light on undraped walls sharpen sensory detail. The son's large physical presence is emphasized—giant hands, filling door frames—then contrasted with paramedics carrying him in a body bag and an oversized coffin. Later passages grow livelier and more responsive.

Read at www.london-unattached.com