Infinite Life

A funny and profound meditation on the complexity of chronic illness and the ache of desire.

At a clinic in Northern California, five women recline on patio lounge chairs. They are fasting, drinking only water or juice in the hope that the deprivation will help their bodies begin to heal from a litany of afflictions—cancers and autoimmune disorders and thyroid conditions and mysterious infections. To distract themselves from the near-constant pain they are in, they philosophize and swap book recommendations, confide intimate family stories and share hopes for their future recoveries. Over the course of several days, the clinic becomes a purgatorial space, where prolonged hunger and suffering seem to warp time itself. The women's meandering discussions slowly accumulate a powerful emotional resonance, leading to deep and troubling questions: is there any meaning to be found in pain, or is it merely something to be endured? Can physical intimacy be an antidote to suffering, or is it only a brief distraction? An engrossing and compassionate play that resists easy answers to the problem of what it means to reside in a body that fails you.