A comedy drama portraying a ghastly family gathering with great humour and unflinching honesty. It is Alice's 85th birthday. An occasion for celebration. But like many family gatherings, it is also an occasion for parading long-held resentments as her children attempt to persuade her to relinquish her independence and move to a home. But Alice has other plans... Peter Nichols's play So Long Life was first staged by Show of Strength at the Tobacco Factory, Bristol, in September 2000, in a production starring Stephanie Cole. 'Nichols is the most honest and unsparing of writers... this is a play that speaks wittily and painfully to its audience about both age and family life' — Telegraph 'The truthfulness and the skill of the writing frequently take the breath away' — Independent