How it Was

A monologue about ageing, life, and death.

In This is How it Was, Jon Fosse’s second longer monologue, we meet an older man. His vision is deteriorating and his feet will no longer carry him. He sees death approaching, and thoughts about whether anything awaits him after death come and ago. Alone in bed, shuffling slowly with a cane, then a walker, and ultimately resorting to a wheelchair, he is filled with fragments of the life he’s lived. He was once a painter, but that time has passed. He has no contact with his children and his marriage is over, but he still waits for the woman who’s set to come and help him – while also dreading her repetitive questions.

As always, Jon Fosse writes about everyday life, but also about the bigger questions. The play is about the decrepit body and ageing, time and memories, life and death.