In Review: My Mother Said I Never Should

Now showing until Saturday 27 February 2010, the Dukes' production of 'My Mother Said I Never Should' is a beautifully and cleverly interwoven observation of women's lives over three generations. Like a tapestry with different coloured textured threads – each thread representing the choices open to the women.

The play smoothly moves through time allowing the audience to experience the influences and consequences of the choices made. It felt like turning the pages of someone's photograph album - opening at the middle, moving onto the end and back to the beginning. Dipping in and out of the black and white images - to relive in colour those lives and memories.

Lorna Beckett, Anne Kavanagh, Christine Mackie and Josie Daxter gave exceptional performances as they transformed from one time one generation to another. In one scene, where Jackie's baby Rosie appears, the extraordinary baby sounds and murmurings created by Christine Mackie bring a realistic yet surreal feeling to the production.

Charlotte Keatley wrote this unusual play to 'represent us all' through the lives of women to show the 'massive social changes of the 20th Century'. In this she succeeds with a touchingly honest portrayal – she has in her own words 'created a vehicle in which other people can make journeys'.

Are you ready for this journey? How different or similar is it to your own?
As the director Amy Leach poignantly writes 'as you watch Keatley's beautiful and brutal play, you'll also be reminded of your own choices and memories.'
What a wonderful production!

Elizabeth Nicholson 10/2/10
For details on the production and performances, go to the Dukes website.