02/10/2026
Ladies of Lavare
At Theatre on the Square until 17 October
In loving memory of Vera Proctor and Maureen Barton
What an absolute treat!! Do not miss this one - you will be sorry.
This show is a wonderful celebration of sisterhood, resilience, and the emotional weight and humour of the family baggage we all carry.
Lavare is an Italian verb meaning “to wash”, “to clean”, “to bathe” or “to launder”. Fitting indeed, as two elderly sisters, Vera (Camilla Waldman) and Maureen (Shaeleen Tobin), find themselves trapped together in a beautiful ball-and-claw bathtub.
Circumstances have forced the two to live together in a retirement village - you can definitely picture them in the Senior Village at Steyn City. When Maureen’s birthday plans go disastrously awry, the bathtub becomes a metaphorical vessel that carries the sisters through memories, imagination and unresolved history, forcing them to confront the happy and the sad of their lifelong relationship.
Don’t get me wrong - this is not a pity fest or a woe-is-me kind of play. It’s a good, hard look at life and ageing that finds the humour in even the saddest moments.
“It’s a privilege to grow old,” says Vera. And eventually, Maureen agrees.
Superbly directed by Juliette Jenner, who has two incredible actors to work with. The depth of talent on stage is immense, and there are not enough words to commend these performances. Perfection springs to mind as you snort with laughter and will them on to their next adventure in a Thelma-and-Louise-esque way.
The set design by Lauren Wilensky is beautifully detailed and textured. So much that is familiar, real and true.
Oliver Hauser’s brilliant lighting draws you in, through doorways, around corners and even face-to-face with death.
The sound design by Nathan Ro is the third cast member (sorry Victor) - storms, birds, elephants…kitchen timers, game drive vehicles, aeroplanes, theme songs...it's a sound fest.
Evanca Moolman, Production Management Assistant has so much to keep track of! The production makes brilliant use of many, many props - all needed in exactly the right spots, at the right times, within reach of the tub, and allowing Vera and Maureen's journey to flow seamlessly.
Ladies of Lavare celebrates the friendships we treasure, the families that challenge us, the dreams we chase, the heartbreaks we suffer and survive, and the quiet courage it takes to grow older.
“Yes, Ladies of Lavare is a play about ageing, but more than that, it is a play about coming of age.” - Playwright Tammany Ross-Barton.
Funny, heartfelt and deeply human, it is a celebration of coming into old age. It’s a Coming-of-OLD-Age!
"The play reframes ageing not as a decline, but as a reminder that life’s greatest chapters are not always the first ones, and that every year adds another golden thread to the tapestry of who we become." - I absolutely love this and hope to remind myself of this often as I age (hopefully gracefully).
As I enter a period of my life that has included a recent death in the family and elderly parents, all grappling with the challenges of growing older, loneliness, and the loss of a life partner and soulmate; it is so clear that growing older is not for sissies.
Reading the tribute at the beginning of the programme, I realised that playwright Tammany Ross-Barton must have experienced losses of her own. Out of those losses she has created something so beautiful - something light, yet full of depth and character - that allows us to celebrate our own old age, and pay tribute to the older generations we love.
Thank you Daphne Kuhn for always bringing us the gems, Senior Living at Steyn City for helping to make it happen and Tammany for providing the opportunity to be real. Thank you.
I would watch this again....and again.
Tickets: Webtickets
We Are South Africans
