Review: THE LONG RUN, New Diorama Theatre

“Running is the dry man’s swimming” snarls Katie Arnstein with puckish glee. For many the thought of stretching and Strava is too great a palaver. But when her mother is diagnosed with bowel cancer Katie finds herself on a journey of struggle and community triumph against adversity, that ends 26.2 miles into the London Marathon.

She documents her treatment through gently painted vignettes from inside Derby Royal Hospital. At first, she is solipsistic, kookily killing the time by poking fun at the caricatures around her. But her endlessly chirpy positivity is a defence mechanism to fend off the most terrible of thoughts.

She kindles a friendship with stranger George, an elderly visitor training for the marathon. His squeaking trainers rumble down the hospital corridors as he runs laps of the ward, much to Katie’s chagrin. 

Written by Arnstein, her puppy dog demeanour goes the distance in the The Long Run, powered by quiet but ferocious daughterly love for her mother. But Bec Martin is the one who crosses the finish line. The latest artistic director of the New Diorama’s production is heartfelt and heart wrenching all at once, swelling together in a gooey bundle of warmth flashing between sepia-tinted memories of George’s life with lover Reg, who he lost to cancer, and the marathon that he is running in memory of.

There’s a deft simplicity to Martin’s direction, gentle flourishes that give a big tug on the heart strings: An Elvis tune and its reprise croons over the speakers when George crosses the finish line. It’s feels so lovingly snug, like you’ve been invited to Arnstein’s flat for a cup of tea and a biscuit on a rainy day.

It premiered to acclaim at the tragically now defunct VAULT festival last year. Though it retains a lo-fi Fringe sensibility with minimal sound design and DIY props, it takes on an added potency in the wake of Kate Middleton’s cancer diagnosis. Don’t get me wrong, I am no royalist, nor do I reckon that the creative team are big on bunting, but The Long Run’s meditations on cancer’s unforgiving brutality and the emotional topography it forces loved ones to navigate are universal.

Read our guest blog by Katie about finding the funny within tragedy here.

The Long Run plays at the New Diorama until April 13

Photo credit: Ali Wright

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