THE QUALITY OF LIFE Questions The Ethics of Dying

Coping with death and dying are intimately explored in The Den Theatre's exceptionally acted production of Jane Anderson's 2007 morose play The Quality of Life. In this four-person dramady a born again couple, Diana and Bill, who are recovering from the brutal murder of their daughter, go to California to visit their liberal cousins, Jeannette and Neil, who recently lost their home and most of their possessions to a wildfire. Neil is in the final stages of cancer, so instead of rebuilding their home, he and Jeannette construct a yurt on the property and decide to live their final days together in a more simplistic and non-material manner. As the two estranged couples being to engage, it soon becomes apparent that each will test the other's morality regarding mortality.

Neil confides that he has decided to be euthanized, with the aid of his wife, after a farewell party for friends and family. This throws the Jesus loving cousins into a tizzy (almost as much as the medicinal pot Neil takes, and Jeanette partakes, to ease the pain). The verbal tennis match begins as they volley over who is suffering the worse; the parents over the loss of a child, or Neil's slow, painful demise of cancer. However, it is not until Jeannette announces that she plans to take herself out as well because she does not want to live without Neil that the proverbial bomb goes off and wits are tested to the nth degree.

Director Lia D. Mortenson has brought together an amazingly competent cast who expertly navigate this complex material. Stephen Spencer is fitting as Bill, the grieving father who allows his faith to mask his pain. Ron Wells' physicality is jarring and makes his performance all the more wrenching as the dying Neil. Liz Zweifler's Jeannette is wittily grounded and has great on-stage chemistry with Jennifer Taylor whose performance as Dinah is simply brilliant.

Though The Quality of Life is a well-constructed play and explores many important issues, it is surely not a unique venture. The currently running Freud's Last Session embarks on many of the same debates, whereby Mr. Freud and C.S. Lewis do "battle" on the existence of God, cancer and suicide. The incredible film "It's My Party" sets up the same premise as Neil's demise but with a different disease. What A Quality of Life does accomplish is making us think of our own mortality and how life can, at times, get away from us. Ms. Anderson's play reminds us of how limited we all are, both in knowledge and in time.

The Quality of Life runs through December 1, 2012 at The Den Theatre, 1333 N. Milwaukee Ave., 2nd Floor, Chicago. Performances are Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 7:30pm and Sunday's at 3pm . For more information, please visit http://www.thedentheatre.com For tickets please visit www.brownpapertickets.com For calendar information, please visit www.theatreinchicago.com.