Elegy (play)

In the near future, radical and unprecedented advances in medical science lead to the possibility of augmenting and extending life. Lorna has had surgery to eliminate a brain disease. However, she loses her memory and does not recognize her partner Carrie when they meet after 20 years. In flashbacks, the two are seen during their relationship. Lorna's doctor Miriam is conflicted about the treatment.

The Guardian reviewer said: "Payne probes the moral consequences of scientific progress. At its most moving, the play poses the question of whether love, like religious faith, is a conscious state of mind that can be eradicated: much of the play’s anguish derives from Lorna’s post-op indifference to the devoted Carrie. But, while the play airs big issues such as whether medical advance undercuts the notion of fixed identity, it works because we care deeply about the people."^[3]

The Independent reviewer concluded with: "As always with Payne, the structure feels musical – an impression amplified here with repeated extracts from the elegiac poetry of Douglas Dunn and Christopher Reid and by the pointed symbolism of the design. In a glass case, there's a dead, lightning-riven oak tree that's periodically engulfed by fog. Never resorting to sentimentality or melodrama, this is an emotionally gruelling but richly rewarding 75 minutes."^[4]