“This has been the hardest play I have ever worked on in the strangest of times,” director Lee Lewis notes in the programme for MTC’s production of Mother Play: A Play In Five Evictions.
Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel’s semi-autobiographical work follows single mother Phyllis Herman (Sigrid Thornton) – Vogel’s mother was also called Phyllis – and her two children, Carl (Ash Flanders) and Martha (Yael Stone). The son character is based on, and named after, Vogel’s gay brother who died of AIDS in 1988.
Mother Play’s action commences in the present day, with Martha also acting as narrator. While unpacking the single box of belongings left behind by her late brother, a soft toy sparks a memory that transports her back to 1964. Martha’s age ranges from 12 all the way through to her fifties, with Stone using physicality to brilliant effect throughout.
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A cockroach infestation prompts the Herman family’s initial move from basement apartment to accommodation elsewhere, on a higher floor. The same few pieces of furniture decorate every relocation – a trend that continues through all five evictions – with Niklas Pajanti’s masterful lighting design reflecting the family’s ever-so-slightly improved circumstances each time.
Phyllis is a heavy smoker. The smell of her cigarette smoke permeates the audience. A bottle of gin is Phyllis’s constant hometime companion. Martha is her reluctant mixologist. A university scholarship in his sights, clear favourite Carl has no chores – leaving him free to study. Phyllis later shares one of her own mother’s go-to phrases: “The filthier a woman’s floor is, the higher her degree.” Carl regularly challenges Phyllis’s heteronormative expectations, uplifting his little sister, offering emotional support and basically bringing her up. Both siblings eventually find full expression – alongside their mystified mother – during the flamboyant, pivotal disco scene.
Poverty, abandonment, sexual assault, homophobia, AIDS, preserving the dignity of aging parents – Mother Play is tonally heavy, with a couple of comedic moments offering emotional reprieve.
Thanks to sound designer Kelly Ryall, scuttling cockroach sounds are so realistic that we shiver with disgust.
Flawed and broken but ultimately a formidable survivor, Thornton’s take on Phyllis is unforgettable. When Phyllis is left alone in her onstage apartment – having alienated both of her children – a lengthy, wordless scene depicting her lonely nighttime ritual unfolds; unwigged, she microwaves a meal for one and channel surfs. Here, Thornton leaves room for us to sympathise, despite the character’s previously demonstrated cruelty.
Mother Play unlocks memories. Our post-show conversations delve deeper. We’re reminded that, just a few decades ago, motherhood – even for those completely devoid of maternal instincts – was an expectation rather than a choice. But not everyone with ovaries wants children, right?
Stone has said, “I relate to Martha in the way that I obsessively walk through memory.”
Are there scenes from your distant past – family-related or otherwise – that still have the ability to fuck you up when they sneak into your brainbox? Do these need unpacking – as Martha does, literally and figuratively, throughout this play – in order to find forgiveness for those who hurt us and move on?
It’s likely many in attendance will make important phone calls tomorrow.
Mother Play: A Play In Five Evictions plays at The Sumner until 2 August.
