MOTHER DARK

This Mother should be living alone in a caravan on the moors, by herself, and did we mention alone? Fat chance when everyone around her keeps falling apart. Apparently rescuing is ‘enabling’ and ‘helping’ is the sunny side of control, but how do we let people go when there’s nothing left to catch them?

MOTHER DARK is a blackly comic, cathartic ride through co-dependence, mother rage and recovery. If you love a self help group and a banging 90s tune, if you yearn in these times for a (dark) Mother – this show is for you.

photo credit: Shay Rowan

MOTHER DARK is a wild yet tender autobiographical solo show exploring motherhood, care and mental health. The show blends storytelling with a stranger-than-fiction true crime – alongside personal myth and magical realism. MOTHER DARK shines a much needed light on systemic failures, the complexities of human connection and our urge to ‘fix’ others.

photo credit: Shay Rowan

Building on a DYCP grant from Arts Council England last year, a period of development for MOTHER DARK is planned with Ursula Martinez as director, Annie Siddons as dramaturg and Lizzy Margereson as movement director ahead of final production – alongside creative wellbeing participatory workshops for Young Adult Carers.

I spoke about making autobiographical theatre with Dr Andrea Maciel Garcia at MMU Manchester School of Art, and read an extract of MOTHER DARK (WIP). You can watch the BUNKER TALK here. I write about this ongoing creative journey on my Substack

A recording of the MOTHER DARK work-in-progress sharing at 53two, Manchester in November last year can be seen here: watch MOTHER DARK (WIP)

photo credit: Shay Rowan