Content warning: Sexual Assault
Walking into the Southbank theatre, the first thing audiences see is a large unassuming brown box sitting on a plain minimalist stage – it is Mother Play, the latest U Haul delivery, hot off the heels from its multi-award winning Broadway run.
Written by Pulitzer-Award winning writer Paula Vogel, Mother Play: a play in five evictions paints a searing portrait of single motherhood navigating the changing tides of the volatile post WWII America.
The 1950s and 60s was the height of the American Dream ideal: white picket fence and the happy nuclear family, moving up in the world through hard work and persistence. However, from the very onset, we learn from Martha Harman (Yael Stone) that this family is anything but this ideal. Instead, it is a family broken by divorce, with an overworked and distant mother, Phyllis (Sigrid Thornton), determined to financially sustain the family with her meagre typist job income. Meanwhile the kids, Carl and Martha, are mostly left to their own devices to face personal struggles against sexual assault, college admissions, coming out, etc.
Sigrid Thornton delivers a bold and captivating performance as a mother who will not admit defeat despite her circumstances. I particularly enjoyed this depiction of an alternative image of motherhood. Unlike the image of the contented docile housewives of mid-century America, Thornton’s mother is caustic, biting and larger-than-life laden with thick furs and thrifted designer clothes. This is a mother forced to do it all: be both the breadwinner and the nurturing mother, uphold the values she was raised upon and love her children for who they are. Phyllis is not the stereotype of the dragon lady or monstrous feminine, but just an imperfect mother caught between conflicting societal expectations and breaking from the tension. It is this imperfection that I think really humanises her and paints a stark image of the hardship of single motherhood.
Ash Flanders delivered a delightful performance of Carl. Fun, individualistic, unashamedly himself Carl was the emotional balance to the uptight, traditionally-valued Phyllis. Despite their differences, Carl had an unwavering loyalty and admiration for Phyllis which made his final eviction by Phyllis, as a heavily sick man dying of AIDS, even more tragic. It was heartbreaking seeing Carl change from the confident, favoured kid, to the final dejected castaway sitting on his suitcase out in the streets, finally seeing the flaws of his mother. Flanders created a powerful portrayal of a multifaceted character broken by a disintegrated family.
Yael Stone’s Martha on the other hand, is the opposite. Small and quiet, for most of the play she is dwarfed by the heavily theatrical and commanding presence of her mother and brother. It is only with Carl's death and Phyllis’ descent into dementia when she finally has the opportunity to own the stage. While understated, Stone gives some moving performances throughout the play as she processes what has become of her family.
The play traverses across several decades, masterfully depicted by the period distinct music by composers Kelly Ryall and John Sharp, and fashion designed by Christina Smith and Bianca Pardo (who also designed the set). Costume designs are immaculate and evocative, conveying not just the changes in America, but also captures the changing identities of the characters. Carl’s outfits become more colourful and flamboyant as his confidence grows, while Martha’s turn from gender-conforming to more androgynous and understated following her assault. Each costume is carefully thought out and I love how every piece from wig to shoes reveals something about each character.
This play is packed with symbolism. The biggest being the expanding box cleverly conveyed by the simple but versatile set. While the space is constantly expanding to show the family moving up in the world (from the cramped, cockroach infested basement to the luxurious fifth floor apartment), the furniture stays the same. I think this is a strong directorial and design decision that really hones in on how no matter how much the outward appearance of the family changes, at its core the family remains the same, with many latent, unresolved tensions that have been brimming since Martha and Carl’s childhood.
However, not all of the symbols worked well. One such example is the cockroaches, which I feel could have been better integrated in the story. Their appearance seemed very sudden and spontaneous, with a life-size cockroach puppet sliding across the stage one second and then completely disappearing without any mention in the second half of the play. So much could be said about the cockroaches – is the family cockroaches? Are they the debt-chasing landlord a cockroach? Or maybe they represent perseverance? Without stronger exploration, the cockroaches seemed dropped into the show for poor comic relief that distracts from the core story of the show.
While the constructions of the domestic spaces are very creative, my favourite moments were the brief moments outside the confines of their home, like the trek in the snow and the disco gay bar decked with immersive colourful LED lighting. Apart from the stunning visual experience of immersing in the world of the play, these are the times when we see the family free outside the confines of their social roles. Phyllis can put aside her prejudice and cavort with her children, and the domestic fights are lost in the strong beat of the energetic disco music. However, we also feel just how vulnerable these brief pockets of freedom are as social expectations quickly creep back into the room.
While the show is generally very well performed, there were some pacing issues that could have been done better. The scene where Phyllis feels discombobulated after evicting both children was unnecessarily long. Though I understand the choice might be to have the audience sit in an uncomfortable silence to feel Phyllis’ loneliness, what I felt instead was boredom.
What this scene instead achieved was for the audience to appreciate the lovely music composition by Ryall and Sharp who created a beautiful soundtrack featuring a soft and sparse piano tune that mirrors Phyllis’ loneliness and creates atmosphere.
Another feature I felt did not work so well is the addition of the sitcom scene in a play that is mostly raw and confronting to be pretty out of place. If each of the five evictions were split into the pop-medium of the times as we traverse the 20CE the sitcom might have made more sense, but having the three characters perform cartoonishly exaggerated acting for just one scene just disturbed the flow of the show.
My favourite line from the show is when Martha, laying Carl to rest at the start of the show, says “Everything he owned fits in one medium size U Haul box”. This sends a powerful message that no matter where you go or move in your life, it is the intangible things like memories and love that remain and can never be boxed away—something that Phyllis unfortunately learns too late. The chemistry between the siblings is so lovable, and perhaps the one constant point in this play characterised by evictions, change and flux. Phyllis, wheelchair-bound and amnesiac in her nursing home, has nothing left to cling on to. She has alienated everyone in her life in her strive for success. It was chilling seeing the formidable seemingly unbreakable mother so broken and vulnerable. With all her furs and flairs, at the end of the day Phyllis too is only one flawed person trying to make the most out of life.
Mother Play: a play in five evictions, directed by Lee Lewis, is a raw and bitter portrayal of trials of single motherhood and the trauma we carry from our parents’ failings. While most of the themes and messages and timeworn are not very original, the story is brought to life by powerful performances and a nuanced portrayal of the mother figure – a figure often relegated to the background and whom we should hear more stories about.
Mother Play: a play in five evictions is currently being performed at Southbank Theatre, The Sumner from 30th of June till 9th of August 2025.