My Mother Said I Never Should by Charlotte Keatley, The Dukes, Lancaster production February 2010
review by Alan Chard
My Mother Said I Never Should
Charlotte Keatley's original stage play is produced by The Dukes, Lancaster and runs from 4 February 2010 until Saturday 27 February 2010.
Presentation in the round with the audience surrounding the action and within touching distance of the action an excellent format for this type of drama. It is not difficult to see why this play has been a hit with audiences since its Manchester premier in 1987. In the 20 years since it was written teenage pregnancy has ceased to be shocking, and the welfare state has become skewed to support young motherhood. This means that some of the play's original impact is diluted.
At The Dukes the set is open yet littered with the trapping of life that are familiar to us all, the family piano, a garden swing, washing drying in a suburban garden. In this setting the cast deliver a quick-fire series of inter-related tableaux that share with us their intimate thoughts. We laugh at the comic misconceptions of children, we eavesdrop on their hopes, successes and disappointments of life as they unfold before our eyes.
The action races onward sometimes like a runaway train, weaving and dodging seamlessly through time from the 1920s, second war blitz to the eighties. The cast are seldom out of view, switching between ages and roles as the history and present of a family is unpicked and unpacked before our eyes. The action is fast and furious, seldom pausing. Casting is excellent. The drama reveals to us the love and hopes of each woman within family situations, and how their roles and expectations as women and mothers are so different. There are many highly comical moments that are very entertaining interspersed with episodes of deep quiet and reflection where the audience were held in silence as all-too-familiar family situations were revealed with subtleties and nuances that everyone could relate to their own nurture.
I laughed a lot but was also challenged and left thinking about some of the bigger questions of life – What do we really want – for ourselves and our children? When we're gone will our nearest and dearest secretly feel released? Are families really better off when women combine careers and motherhood?
This drama also highlights how we tend to conform to society's accepted norms even though at the time we may not even know we're doing it and later regret it.
An intimate tale that is very entertaining and thought provoking, highly recommended.
Alan Chard, February 2010