A beautiful opportunity to explore relationships on stage
A Word For Mother is the newest play to inhabit the versatile space Upstaits at the Gatehouse. This time transformed by Lillian Caccia into a kitchen, with full lived in cupboards and fridge. Pictures and knick-knacks fill the space, imbuing it with life.
The show centres on three siblings in the aftermath of the their Mother’s (Louise Gold) sudden death. Charity, (Abigail Moore) Faith (Heather Johnson) and Hope (Melaina Pecorini) battle with their memories and each other exploring the complexities of grief and life.
Where the show thrives is in the intimate live moments, it’s here when being forced to deal with the person in front of them that that writing comes alive and the actors settle into truth. This is in contrast to the very regular reminiscing ‘I remember’ stories which lead the show into overselling.
Director Sarah Redmond has been ambitious in her choreography of props, there’s rarely a moment where the cast don’t have an action or prop to negotiate with this. In parts this adds a humanity to the regularity of moments but in others it becomes a distraction, predominantly where the cast haven’t the time to complete the task and the audience are left questioning why a basket of laundry was half folded then screwed up at the end. These distractions only serve to remove the audience from the journey leaving us distanced from the characters.
The have a genuine rapport and mainly do their best with the story but sometimes more frequently in the flashback sections we see more heighten forced responses. Overall its an truthful exploration of grief and tough family relationships with moments of great writing.