“truthful, engaging stories delivered with sincerity”
Motherlogues at the Etcetera Theatre, Camden, is the third instalment of Forked Theatre’s successful show. It sees five female actors perform monologues addressing issues affecting women. The main theme of motherhood is at the heart of the production and further themes branch from this. These include mother/daughter relationships, birth, surrogacy, miscarriage and the judgement and stigma that can surround these topics.
The most intriguing aspect of the production, and its creative process, is the fact the five actors spent just five days creating the monologues from their own life experiences. These, alongside experiences ‘donated’ to the company by other women, result in truthful, engaging stories delivered with sincerity that female audience members will no doubt be able to relate to.
The stories include a harrowing account of the process of a natural miscarriage, a difficult birth in a Spanish hospital, a woman who underwent a hysterectomy at the age of 22 and an insight into the pressures put on young women to settle down and have a family.
The actors present the stories under a single spotlight, in turn, while the remaining actors sit in darkness at each side of the stage. This allows the audience to hone in on the individual delivering the story and engage with the emotions and issues being presented. The production’s dialogue is largely read from scripts, which led to a few stumbles in the dialogue, but these by no means affected the overall delivery of the piece and were soon forgotten.
Motherlogues deals with topics in relation to motherhood which are not often discussed, but are nevertheless important. The production has the ability to be kept fresh, with the possibility for new instalments and stories from different women. It explores what it is to be a woman in the 21st century and will hopefully encourage discussion of delicate, but highly relevant topics affecting women today.
Reviewed by Emily K Neal
MOTHERLOGUES
is at The Etcetera Theatre until 27th August as part of Camden Fringe Festival
