Mummy!

The latest in an occasional series of theatre reviews...

Backstroke : The Donmar Warehouse 

When I was organised enough to remember to book Donmar tickets back in what now feels like the very dim and distant past, I booked two plays both based entirely upon the cast. Adrien Brody (the now double Oscar winner) didn't disappoint in this and I had high hopes for Celia Imrie (best known for her work with Victoria Wood for me) and Tamsin Greig (Green Wing and Black Books for me, but The Archers for the older generation and Friday Night Dinner for the kids) in this - but apart from that I knew absolutely nothing about it.

And there were a distracting number of clues on stage as to what was coming up - I'm guessing not too many sets include a hospital bed and an Aga.

But basically what we had here was a mother-daughter relationship under the microscope - Bo (short for Boadicea, played by Tamsin) is dealing with her mother Beth (never Mummy, played by Celia) who was unresponsive in hospital after a stroke, whilst also suffering from dementia. At the same time, she's also having to deal with issues with her neurodivergent daughter, so she's being pulled in all directions - and understandably quite stressed and takes it out on the hospital staff (Lucy Briers, Anita Reynolds, Georgina Rich), all of whom have different ways of reacting.

As the story progresses, flashbacks play out (mostly in the kitchen portion of the stage) presenting us with various scenes which give us some background to Bo and Beth's relationship which was, shall we say, unconventional. These are presented in a non-chronological order - I got the impression that they were supposed to be unexpected memories popping into Bo's head, but it all got a bit confusing for me at times. And then, at the end, we're at (spoiler alert) Beth's funeral for Bo's speech which ties things up nicely for me in an emotional ending.

Due to the nature of the play, the vast majority of it takes the form of two person dialogue between either Bo and Beth or Bo and one of the nurses, so Tamsin has a lot of work to do in this and she does it well. Her relationship with Celia works well, although Beth is not a likeable character and often thoroughly confused with dementia, so she was difficult to warm to - but I guess that's to Celia's credit as an actor.

The play also makes interesting use of video, with fleeting scenes giving the impression of further chaotic memories from Bo's mind - sometimes being very recent and sometimes going way back. All in all, I thought it was well written, staged and acted, giving a plausible version of a mother-daughter relationship, with a core of undeniable love but many layers of tension surrounding it. 

But...

...whilst I have a mother, sisters, wife and daughters, I didn't feel I could really relate to it. I'm sure it hit hard for some members of the (mostly female) audience (one of the women next to me had her tissues out at the end) and I also get the impression it was probably terrific therapy for the writer, but it just didn't impact on me, I'm afraid. The guy sitting next to me obviously felt the same because he didn't come back for the second half and there were a surprising number of empty seats dotted throughout the theatre - even more bizarrely, two women in the row in front of me left in the first ten minutes, with the first one walking out after two minutes. Which is just weird - who would do that?

So for me it was an admirable, but somewhat confusing and not hugely enjoyable evening - a good, rather than great, evening. However, I can quite understand that others would be blown away by what it had to say to them - that's the thing about art, eh?

One final random comment is I knew I recognised Lucy Briers from somewhere but had to Google her to find out that she was Mary in the BBC's adaptation of Pride and Prejudice (which is 30 years old now) - she's also Richard Brier's daughter.

Elektra - A compelling mess
Dear England - A very enjoyable night out