Last night I was invited to see Beyond Caring, a play by Christina Castling, at Live Theatre. Directed by Jonluke McKie, it’s a moving and thoughtful story about life in a care home, set in the run up to Covid – one that couldn’t have felt more timely on a day when the Government’s callousness towards the elderly lay exposed for all to see.

Three talented actors (Judi Earle, Jacqueline Phillips and Rosie Stancliffe) take on multiple roles, though there are three central characters driving the plot. Queenie (Earle) is a care home resident staging an outdoors sit in, refusing to go back inside until she feels like her autonomy is respected by the staff. Alex (Stancliffe) is a well-meaning care worker dealing with the stresses of the job as well as she can and Elaine (Phillips) is struggling with the difficult decision to put her mother into a home.

It’s a deeply humane story, recognising the fact that the system of care in this country is badly broken. Alex struggles to keep staff, when pay is so low that it’s easier to get a job packing boxes in Amazon; not everyone has her caring nature, with some of her team treating Queenie’s protest as a willful inconvenience. It’s particularly resonant about how the system strips people of their individuality: each of the residents is a person, with a history and personality, denuded of their edges and complexities by a society that doesn’t want to think about them.

Although a touring production, Ellie Light’s design uses the stage at Live well, with character changes cleverly signposted by clothing and accessories. There are a few too many characters and not quite enough plot; the story gets cluttered at times, and it’s very talky, making even an 85 minute run-time feel a little stretched out in places, but it’s told with compassion and warmth.

The Covid subplot isn’t heavy handed – it doesn’t need to be, with the horrific knowledge of how the pandemic hit the sector hanging over the play like a cloud. And though there is plenty of humour in the piece, it doesn’t shy away from the realities it depicts – nor does it do its subjects a disservice by offering easy answers.

The play finishes its short run at Live tonight, but for details of further touring, check here.