MOTHERS

Charlotte Connor and Shabnam Tovaks in MOTHERS. Pics Richard Farland
Charlotte Connor and Shabnam Tovaks in MOTHERS. Pics Richard Farland

Vast and complex threads of memories arise when the subject of motherhood is brought to light.

Mothers are universal nurturers driven by unconditional love, and yet they are sometimes neglected, misunderstood or just too tired to cope.

The play MOTHERS is the brainchild of Joy Roberts. She put out the call for monologue submissions and was surprised by the depth of response. Not only were they funny and satirical, but they exposed the darker side of motherhood – loneliness, hardship and exhaustion.

Roberts chose twelve Australian writers who produced scenes and monologues for nine actors. They ran together smoothly over two acts thanks to the talent of the five directors, Cheryl Pomering, Erin Gordon, Glen Pead, Kaye Lopez and Roberts herself.

The writers, Jane Cafarella, Chantal Harrison, Gillian Brennan, Julie Danilis, Kate Rotherham, Kate Toon, Kathryn Yuen, Michelle Wood, Neda, Vee Malnar, Serena Kirby and one male, Peter Shelley, all wrote extraordinary pieces that were funny, sad and exhilarating.

The themes varied; a mother of three who is trying to cope in the morning, having to come up with a school frog suit at the last minute making her late for work as a machine tells her her that her pay is being docked accordingly. A mother advising her teenage daughter who has just given birth. A mother whose own mother died when she was seven and has to answer her child’s questions about death. A Muslim woman who has no elderly female support in her new country and is fighting depression and a mother who can’t breast-feed and begins bonding with her baby when she discovers formula feeding. A 44 year-old mother trying to cope, “I love my baby, it’s motherhood I don’t like”.

A posh mum who realises that “people who try and have everything, wind up with nothing at all”. An Indian woman who talks to her 6th child, sadly stillborn, and an older woman looking for a surrogate mother.

The actors, Alannah Robertson, Charlotte Connor, Clare Tamas, Feda Dabbagh, Lisa Hanssens, Lynda Leavers, Rowena McNichol, Shabnam Tavakol and Shayne Francis were an exemplary cast. They all brought out the humour in the pieces with underlying pathos and tragedy that was effectively underplayed, making their monologues all the more powerful.

The audience were notably moved by this great show. I hope it will re-surface at other theatre venues or on television. It deserves to be seen again.

MOTHERS played at the Roxbury Hotel, Glebe on the 2nd, 3rd, 9th, 10th of May and finished its triumphant season at The Tap Gallery on Mother’s Day, the 11th May.

For more about Mothers, visit http://www.improvisingchange.com