Theatre Review: Mother Play

 The Play: Mother Play a play in five evictions by Paula Vogel

The Company: The Melbourne Theatre Company

The Theatre: The Southbank Theatre

Until 9 August

Stars: 4

I love going into a play blind and coming out amazed and delighted. 

Mother Play is one of those plays. So far, the Melbourne Theatre Company has served up some wonderful theatre in this year's season, but this is up there with the best of them.

According to the MTC website, "It’s 1962 and Martha and Carl are unpacking. Again. Since their deadbeat dad ditched them and stole the family’s savings, they’ve been following their fierce mother Phyllis from apartment to apartment. Cockroaches, landlords and snooty neighbours be damned. Phyllis is determined to live life on her terms. They’re moving on up."

The thing is Martha (Yael Stone) and Carl (Ash Flanders) aren't the children Phyllis (Sigrid Thornton) signed up for. It's not the life that Phyllis signed up for, and over the play's hour and 50 minutes, we see the family lurch from flat to flat, uncomfortable situation to another difficult situation. 

It's fantastic.

Firstly, the performances of the three characters were superb. Sigrid Thornton was an absolute delight as the dreadful Phyllis. I say this in that Phyllis was the quintessential Boomer mother with little idea about the emotional needs of her children. At the start of the play, she was portrayed as being in her 30s - self-absorbed, drunk and emotionally abusive. Things didn't really improve for the family. Son Carl, a young, closeted gay man tries his best to keep things on an even keel while giving Martha some of the love and stability she needs. Ash Flanders and Yael Stone are superb in this as the siblings age over five decades, spending their time packing and unpacking the family. 

Paula Vogel's play is semi-autobiographical. It's also heartfelt, raw and very real. Lee Lewis's direction is sensitive, but gritty, giving all of the characters in the play nuanced depth. 

I also loved the costumes and the sets, which add even more reality to the play. Phyllis's wardrobe is incredible and worth the ticket price alone. 

There is so much more to say about this play. The season has been extended to 9 August, which gives Melbourne more time to see some fantastic, thought-provoking theatre. T

This will go down as one of the better plays the MTC puts out this year. 

Today's song:

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