A love letter to a mother, a queer celebration and a masterful command of the room
What a wild, wild ride this show was. I saw it on a whim on a friends recommendation, and when only 20 odd people were seeing this performance, I tempered my expectations; oh how wrong I was. Mother Superior is so far the show that has surprised me the most. While the bio makes clear this is a camp queer sacrilegious love letter to his mother, it completely undersells just how dramatic and hilarious the journey we go on is.
Pitched as an invitation to pray with him, fittingly inside the Bedlam theatre – a converted church, in the hope that his mother can be made a saint; we are taken down memory lane, a selection of Michael John and his mothers ‘greatest hits’ so to speak. Michael John whips us into shape, breaking the dramatic tension with a raunchy punchline before who other than the Vatican’s representative (whose voice on the phone is played by Gianmarco Soresi) answers our prayer – and sets forth the steps to reaching sainthood. As we proceed through the steps to grant his mother sainthood, he must walk us through her miracles, what she has given Michael John from driving cross-country for his childhood architecture obsessions to being there for him at his lowest moments even when he didn’t think he was worthy of it.
Michael John effortlessly weaves each memory into a tapestry of what his mother is to him, he delicately balances every sentimental moment with a delicious punchline, a witty retort delivered in animated fashion. To call Michael John animated would be like calling Britney Spears’ Toxic a ‘good song’, technically true but it’s really not describing it adequately, his talent lies in juggling every beat of the show without every feeling too much of any one single note. It is very rare that we hang on a memory too long, or a joke arrives when perhaps you’d want the moment to linger a little longer, any improvements would be minor adjustments at most and none are worth denying yourself a captivating hour of theater for. Its very rare for someone to command every aspect of the emotional spectrum so well in such a tightly written hour.
It is hard not to feel the love he feels, when for instance, he describes his memories of playing in her hospital office, while she treated predominantly gay men during the aids crisis, wondering if this was some holy sign in hindsight. The way Michael John can bring a silence – a lull between the punchlines and camp bravado – is exemplary. I think love is an act of creation, and theatre as a collaboration between the performers and the audience, something we make together every time we see a show. From the short hour that John Michael shared with us we all partook in that act of creation, shared his love for his mother, and if I were religiously inclined – I’d see that as something truly blessed to have been part of. As it stands its a show deserving to be sold out every afternoon, and offers a really interesting concept executed with the right mix of grace and splendour.
See Michael John Ciszewski: Mother, Superior at Bedlam Theatre at 2pm every day of Fringe, apart from Mondays.
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/michael-john-ciszewski-mother-superior