An interesting show about homelessness that is not quite a home run.
Mother’s Day is a thought-provoking play that explores the themes of homelessness, addiction, and motherhood. Written by Louise Monaghan, Mother’s Day tells the story of Jasmine, a homeless woman determined to make her daughter a dolls house for her birthday. She meets Tillie, a young woman who has missed the last bus home, and the two create an unlikely bond. Well, that is half the story.
If I had to describe this show in one word, that word would be interesting. The story is intriguing in that you have the story of Jasmine and Tillie, but also the story of the actors, Jenny, and Maria. I initially thought that this was not great, as before the show started the actors came out and introduced themselves and told us a bit about their lives. All very nice, but I thought this undermined the believability of the characters that they went on to play. This got completely flipped on its head though, as over the course of the show we revisited the lives of the actors and got to see what was going on in their lives. This helped give the message quite plainly that anyone can find themselves in circumstances which make them homeless, but the way it was done through utilising telling the story of the actors was really clever and a good way of avoiding the possible “preachy” pitfall that some plays with messages can fall into. It smartly both showed and told us what could happen, which I was a fan of.
Another interesting aspect of this show was the use of the audience. The audience was used very much as a recurring character, with lines and direction projected onto the back of the set. I am not normally one for audience interaction as it just makes me feel awkward, but having dialogue written in front of you helped to alleviate the potential social anxiety.
Both actresses gave strong performances that helped make both of the characters that they each had to play quite believable, and they successfully delivered the emotional and comedic moments required. I did feel a bit sorry for them as on the night I saw the show, a bag strap noticeably broke within the first 5 minutes and left a metallic chain dragging round. They both handled this fine, but I am sure they would have much preferred it not to have happened.
There were a lot of ideas in this show, and some of the different sections I feel dragged on a little bit too long. The drug taking/dancing sequence could do with shortening, or even reworking all together as I am not sure what this actually helped to add to the plot or character development other than making MDMA look quite fun. There is also an extended swimming/motivational phrases section which was witty to begin with, but then went on too long. In all this made the show seem to me to be 10-15 minutes too long, and I think that it could be tightened up a bit to help keep audience engagement throughout.
About halfway through the show things got a little bit “Twilight Zone” with the actors being unsure if they were playing their characters or themselves, characters acting out flashbacks and memories from their childhood, and this created quite a lot of intentional confusion. As intentional as it was, I do not really know what this added to the show. It gave it a bit of a sci-fi element that I do not think worked for the show and could be removed without negatively impacting the message of the production, and could potentially help to improve the show’s flow.
No review of this show would be complete without talking about the important work that went into it. From the Camden People’s Theatre website “Mother’s Day is part of a wider project called REBUILD, where a community of women who have experienced homelessness came together to build dolls houses and discuss notions of ‘home’. This was part of One Festival of Homeless Arts and the houses are on exhibition at Old Diorama Arts Centre.” People who had experienced homelessness were also given free tickets to see the show, and at the end of the play there was a slideshow of all the women who shared their stories during the workshops which helped to create the play.
In conclusion, this is a good show with a good message and some interesting theatrical techniques, but ultimately falls short of being brilliant. If the show runs again, I would recommend anyone who has an interest in learning more about the lives of homeless women, and wants to support a project telling these stories, should buy a ticket and go along.
Mother’s Day played at the Camden People’s Theatre Sun 23 Apr – Mon 24 Apr