Ladysitting is the term used to define the caring for Lorene Cary’s Nana (grandmother) near the end of her life so as not to use the more embarrassing, word babysitting, for the elderly. The premier of the show “Ladysitting” at the Arden Theatre is a dramatic representation of the memoir by Cary.
Nana is 99-years old and can’t look after herself in a home that is desperately in need of repairs. She is placed in a room of the church rectory of her granddaughter’s husband. There, bedridden, she is cared for by Cary and Cary’s teenage daughter.
She has outlived her daughter who died young, and her son. She waits to join them in the afterlife and even says that she wants to die during her two years in bed. She has only her memories and her visions of being visited by the Angel of Death, often in the form of the men who died before her. It is a challenge for caretakers as Nana changes her life’s history when she thinks back of her past.
When talking about growing up Black in the South, she is reminded that she came north at seven. But Nana was active in the civil rights movements of the day. Still, she denies having voted for 50 years. Now, Lorene come to her with an absentee ballot to vote for Barack Obama.
My own father lived to almost 102. He too reinterpreted his history. He outlived all his family of his own generation as well as his son, my brother. As his life deteriorated, we wished he could be relieved of his pain, his grief.
Nana’s family is at a loss as to what to do after she turns 101. Dare they wish that their matriarch die? We know these people. It is a problem that every generation faces as parents age. There are no easy answers, and we feel for them all.
We want to laugh at the humorous situations of the play, but we are also pained by them. Trezna Beverley and Melanye Finister are superb in portraying Nana and her granddaughter, Lorene. Cary has done a wonderful job in transferring her memoir to the stage in a 90-minute show for us all to experience.
“Ladysitting” by Lorene Cary at Arden Theatre Company, 40 N. 2nd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106. 215-922-11222 ardentheatre.org extended thru March 3, 2024.
Philadelphia Theater Reviews by Frank Burd 