MUM'S THE WORD
Bernie Nolan, Michelle Gayle, Kim Hartman, Rebecca Wheatley, Daniele Coombe
Director:
Wayne Harrison
A Robert Kelly Presentation
Liverpool Empire Theatre
February 26th, 2007
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MUM'S THE WORD
Motherhood, some say, is “a job for life” whereas others see it as more of a “life sentence”. Whichever way Mum’s The Word is looked upon, however, no better moniker could be given to it than “classy entertainment”.
Five women – Robin (Nolan), Jill (Gayle) Alison (Hartson), Deborah
(Wheatley) and Barbara (Coombe) – are all married women who have
joined “The Club” that is motherhood, despite their best
efforts to avoid it. Here, in a stream of monologues that are uplifting
and moving, each actress also has their fair share of hilarious observation
to give out and include breast milk fights to rocking their babies to
sleep … if only for five minutes … in their repertoire.
Highlight of the evening though is, without doubt the “Puppetry Of The Penis” section, in which we men are mercilessly ridiculed, belittled and banished to the furthest corner of the bedroom in shame.
The script is tight without being rigid, observant without being lecturing and the performances of each actress is exemplary. Bernie Nolan and Kim Hartman hold the plot together superbly well, with Nolan’s character trying to communicate her feelings through “Dear Partner” letters and Hartman’s relating the tale of her child’s premature birth being a delight to watch. On the manic side, Daniele Coombe is a delight to superb as her character becomes more and more embroiled in the process of rearing growing children, whereas Rebecca Wheatley is deliciously cynical about the whole thing and probably has the most consistently funny lines including “Every day I start out Mary Poppins but end up Cruella De Vil”.
For her part, Michele Gayle has the slightly lesser role, but nonetheless still managed to deliver in her role as Rock Chick has been, Jill.
The audience – 95% of which were women – lapped it up and it’s a sure thing that the remaining 5% of the audience did too.
And why not? This, after all, was superb
entertainment
8/10
| Theatre Royal Nottingham | Monday 5 to Saturday 10 February 2007 |
| Grand Theatre Blackpool | Monday 12 to Saturday 17 February 2007 |
| New Theatre Hull | Monday 19 to Saturday 24 February 2007 |
| Liverpool Empire | Sunday 25 to Wednesday 28 February 2007 |
| Venue Cymru Llandudno | Thursday 1 and Friday 2 March 2007 |
| New Victoria Theatre Woking | Monday 5 to Saturday 10 March 2007 |
| Beck Theatre Hayes | Monday 12 to Wednesday 14 March 2007 |
| Sunderland Empire | Monday 26 to Saturday 31 March 2007 |
| Lighthouse Poole | Monday 2 to Saturday 7 April 2007 |
| Palace Theatre Southend on Sea | Monday 16 to Saturday 21 April 2007 |
| Alexandra Theatre Birmingham | Monday 23 to Saturday 28 April 2007 |
| Billingham Forum | Monday 30 April to Saturday 5 May 2007 |
| Whitehall Theatre Dundee | Monday 7 to Saturday 12 May 2007 |
| Manchester Palace | Monday 14 to Saturday 19 May 2007 |
| Glasgow Pavilion | Monday 21 May to Saturday 10 June 2007 |
| Wycombe Swan | Monday 11 to Saturday 16 June 2007 |
| Bromley Churchill Theatre | Monday 18 to Saturday 23 June 2007 |
| Bristol Hippodrome | Monday 25 to Saturday 30 June 2007 |
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