The outside world has changed and so, too, has Jean’s inner world. Her husband is in bad shape and getting worse, a meth addict has shattered her sense of isolation from society’s troubles and the waiting list for the Kiwanis, an old folks home, is long.

Joan MacLeod is returning to playRites with her one-woman show Another Home Invasion, six years after she premiered Shape of a Girl at the festival in 2001. That play has been continuously performed around the world since its first showing here, has been translated into seven languages and recently finished a stint at the Sydney Opera House.

Another Home Invasion takes us into the living room of Jean (Nicola Lipman), an 80-year-old woman desperate to get out of her house and into the caring arms of a seniors facility. She and her husband have been waiting for the Kiwanis to admit them for 27 months, and things are deteriorating. MacLeod has taken the typical scenario of seniors wanting to stay in their own homes and flipped it. The play does not focus on the fight to stay independent, but on the realization that with age comes the need for additional care. It is a story about how we treat the elderly in our society.

The play was inspired by MacLeod’s experience with her ailing mother — watching her deteriorate as MacLeod struggled to find a place where her needs would be met. “You have no idea how difficult the system can be to navigate until you have to rely on it,” says MacLeod. “That’s where a lot of the play comes from, is me trying to navigate that system with my mother.”

The playwright was also inspired by the story of an elderly couple in a B.C. care facility. The two were married for over 60 years. “One of them had to be sent to another place because they didn’t have the proper level of care to look after the wife,” she says. “Because of health cuts, and all that, she was sent 90 miles away and she died within three days of being separated from her husband. He died 10 days or something later.”

A chair and table are the biggest pieces in a sparse set. Orange and red leaves are spread in a diamond shape surrounding Jean as she talks about the invasion of her private realm, her life and her husband. “You’re hearing a story more than watching her jump around and act everything out. Not that she’s not doing amazing acting, but it’s quite a still piece, which is what I envisioned all along. I mean, she’s old, she’s up there,” says MacLeod.

It is a play about old people sheltering themselves against the world and trying to find the help that they need. Jean and her husband are at once trapped and cocooned in their home. It is a bittersweet tale. “It says some really hopeful, strong things about love, and I think that’s what really comes through at the end of the play,” says MacLeod. “It is sad, too. Old age is the shits, too, for a lot of people.”