Oh Mother – HOME

If you have ever had a child, been a child, had or been a mother, cared for someone you love or if you have ever had a dishwasher, at some point during this perfectly paced piece of physical theatre you will be struck, right in the heart and soul.

Oh Mother is made up of fragments of stories that are interrupted and cut off, woven together to create the dreamlike world you can live in when you are taking care of someone, at the beginning or the end of their life.

The stories are interspersed with sequences of movement and music that adventure into epic domestic, rage, gender, bonding, attachment and climbing into that fantastic beast of domestic white goods…

The Rashdash Company of three, present a brilliant Brechtian bonanza which looks at women’s roles as key carers to their own children and to those who mothered them.

In a hilarious opening, front of curtain, the actors stalled us as they dealt with the toy strewn chaos of the stage before allowing us into their world. This world of Goddesses deftly handling dirty nappies, ball pool explosions, toys and trolleys whilst paying psalm like homage to their sacred and beloved dishwasher set us off on a transformative journey looking at what it can be to take care of someone who completely depends on us.

On this journey many questions arise. How does one cope with this overwhelming obsessive love for this person created in my own amazing body? How do I share with my partner when my desire to sustain this tiny life with my own milk drives me completely? How do I have an adult conversation with my childless friend without the need to mention my offspring? What do we do when we find ourselves pregnant again just weeks after having our first child? How did I go wrong as a mother to be faced with this now adult child whom I do not recognise or feel able to relate to? How do I care for my declining parent without feeling mean and selfish for considering my own needs? Why does it hurt to ask for help? How do I raise a boy to be the kind of man society needs him to be? BIG STUFF!

The ensemble of 3 multi skilled actors use character led fast paced action, excellent physical expression and musical narrative throughout. With the help of a variety of highly comic song styles, well designed and effective set and costumes and a characterisation of a vagina as Don Giovanni, this 90-minute (uninterrupted) piece never felt in need of an interval.

For me, the real excellence of this piece fell in two powerful and fabulously performed monologues. The first, a mother, demented by fatigue, pleading with, singing to, cajoling, bribing, reasoning with, begging, begging, begging, her child to go to sleep. The second, a daughter, repeating the ritual to persuade her ailing mother to do the same. Round and round…  ‘It is so often more grim than fairy tale’

This thoughtful, hilarious, and at times poignant work made me feel proud and powerful to be a mother, a daughter, a woman; to be a parent, a child, a human.

The company describe the piece as ‘relentless, diabolical, wonderful, hilarious and necessary’ and they are not wrong. Excellent stuff.

Playing until 28th May, https://homemcr.org/production/oh-mother/

Reviewer: Lou Kershaw

Reviewed: 17th May 2022

North West End UK Rating: ★★★★★