REVIEW: Distance Remaining presented by Helen Milne Productions

It has been fascinating to see how producers have responded to lockdown closing their theatres as they embrace storytelling in an online world. Do you retain the theatricality of live performance in a venue, do you embrace the streamed world with its social media and Zoom or do you create cinematic stories? Helen Milne Productions opts to combine all three approaches in her interesting exploration of isolation and loneliness which is amplified by lockdown. The resulting three separate stories which could so easily have turned dark and depressing as the lost souls’ grapple with their demons but thankfully chooses to end in uplifting mode, reflecting the hope that the lifting of restrictions gives us all.

The first story is Rug Rat which finds Jess played by Dolina MacLennan having fallen at home in her flat and struggling to lift herself up to reach her phone on the table while Zak rings after release from prison. It captures the isolation of being shut in a flat in a dodgy neighbourhood where the only contact with the outside is the sound of the postman at the door and banging on the floor to attract attention. Her slow crawl to escape captured in multiple camera angles is painful to watch and you fear she will not make it and die alone. I was not completely convinced about Jess’s injuries but it beautifully captured both the tenacity and fragility of being old and alone.