Forgiving (my mother) – The Glitch

Performed in a small space at The Glitch, this devised performance was an intimate piece set in a ‘rehearsal room’ with two actors practicing a scene with two sisters discussing their mother who had recently had a fight with them. It is as if we are with them and apart of the creative process as their character’s adapt and shape a scene of a play they’re rehearsing. The performance will stop as one actor will question why this line is here, whether that would be a true response and how thoughtless the mother seemed to be. They lead discussions about theatre and its reason, the purpose of understanding our own trauma and the hilarity of being apart of an opinion but one’s only contribution is writing a play and moving on from it. The actors are really in their element here, shaping this text to their beliefs of the characters until the director joins in to ask that ‘we move on’ in an attempt to get to the end of the script. The actors then reveal that this script is based on the director’s experience with her real mother. The director refuses to connect script to real experience until everyone can no longer make that separation and reveals her own opinions and lack of forgiveness she has towards her mother.

There is an incredibly interesting concept here that may have gotten a little bit confused in building the world. The best part of this piece is seeing the two actors and their chemistry of trying to build their scene, building a believable sister relationship and their fluidity of emotional release vs the director’s strict walls up against talking about her trauma that she writes about so often. These moments were so beautiful and interesting to watch as one actor asks the director for a character exercise, director sighing in the rejection digging into this very difficult scene too much and the other actor giggling shyly at the ever growing tension. 

I wasn’t quite sure if this was audience participation or fourth wall piece as the actors would often refer to their personal experiences and their university experiences which if you are an audience member with no relation to those categories it can feel a little cut off. I would have been interested to see a perspective in which we are on-lookers into this rehearsal room where the director is pushed into breaking that emotional silence she is having with herself and the actors forcing her to deal with that trauma through asking questions and pulling moments out of her script.

I think there is a brilliant drama in this piece and I did enjoy it I just left with a little confusion about what I was supposed to leave feeling.

Reviewer: Alice Rose

Reviewed: 25th January 2024

North West End UK Rating: