Much Ado About Dying

Simon Chambers is shooting a film in India when his uncle David calls him with a message of doom: “I think I may be dying.” David – a former actor and Shakespeare-lover – is a total drama queen, who has grown old on a diet of attention and applause. Simon finds his life drastically interrupted and everything that could go wrong does go wrong as he tries to help his uncle have a good death. 

David’s anarchic spirit is unbreakable. He fights with Simon, refusing to go into a care home, insisting on dying in the squalor of his unheated tumble-down house. He can’t remember where he put his false teeth, but he still knows nearly all the lines from his beloved Shakespeare. David’s real life starts to echo King Lear, the play about an old man going mad and giving his kingdom away, as David starts giving away thousands of pounds to the hot, young “carer” who pops in from time to time. 

Despite the house burning down, a period of homelessness, cancer, a permanent catheter, delirium from an infection, and the dreaded care home, they create an award-winning final performance to send David on his way.