My Mother Said I Never Should

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YAT

My Mother Said I Never Should

Focusing on four generations of one family as they confront the most significant moments of their lives, Charlotte Keatley’s My Mother Said I Never Should (Tuesday 16 – Saturday 20 April) is a poignant, bittersweet story about love, jealousy and the price of freedom. The play details the lives of four women through the immense social changes of the twentieth century.

OUR VERDICT

Richmond Theatre

It’s as true in the theatre as it is in life that the things that are most likely to cause conflict and friction within a family are secrets and lies. Such is the case in ‘My Mother Said I Never Should’.

One might have thought that the most widely performed play by a woman might have been something by Caryl Churchill or Agatha Christie but this distinction goes, in fact, to ‘My Mother Said I Never Should’ having been translated or produced in 31 different countries. One can see why as even though the action is episodic and non-linear the themes and story are distinct and accessible.   

Set in Manchester, Oldham and London it follows, sometimes in flashback, the story of Doris (Judith Paris) a working-class Lancashire lass born at the start of 20^th century. Her daughter Margaret (Lisa Burrows) whose childhood was much affected by WW2. Margaret’s daughter the headstrong and artistic Jackie (Kathryn Ritchie), born in the ’50s but very much a 60’s child and Jackie’s daughter the ebullient Rosie (Rebecca Birch).   

All four actors are exceptional in their roles. It would be easily done, considering the emotional nature of the text, for the performances to become overwrought but this is never the case under the surefooted direction of Michael Cabot.