M-OTHERING
The Old Market
★★★★
“The choreography and movement work here are beyond impressive”
What does it mean to be a mother? And don’t all women act as mothers at some point in their lives? Chess Dillon-Reams’ powerful, dance-based play M-Othering drives this point home with equal parts humour, love, and heartbreak, choosing to take a positive view on a difficult subject.
Upon entering the space, there’s a great calmness instilled by a slight haze, home videos of children running in gardens, and several women tending to plants onstage. It feels warm, idyllic, child-like. And that feeling thoroughly permeates the room as we’re introduced to the core cast of the show through a rather silly, but very beautifully choreographed dance accompanied by musings on what a mother is from Peter Pan. Then, Dillon-Reams begins to weave her story by telling us something that we are, truthfully, expecting to hear — that she has always wanted to be a teacher, an artist, and ultimately, a mother. She’s felt the calling of motherhood in her bones since she was small, helping to raise her younger brothers. It’s a truth that reaches into the core of many women, whether it’s biology or something deeper in the soul.
Through the ninety minutes, Dillon-Reams introduces us to some of the most significant women in her life. She details the community, the support they have provided one another. She’s sure to tell us their precise age difference, really highlighting the value of an intergenerational community. She also tells us, in so many words, that “real” motherhood has evaded her. Through beautiful, apt metaphors, including a bottomless flowerpot that cannot take on soil, an egg timer, and an under-nourished plant, she shows us the pain and the constant feeling of loss that she has experienced in pursuit of this thing she has always desperately wanted. But through the women represented here, she also shows how she has found “other mothering” through her teaching career — acting as a surrogate mother when young women needed someone to lean on, to trust, to believe in.
The choreography and movement work here are beyond impressive. It’s a show that reminds you just how much can be said through the body itself, with no words at all. Accompanied by excellent lighting design (Zoé Ritchie) and some delightful musical interludes (chosen mainly by Dillon-Reams herself), it’s almost flawless. Some of the sound mixing made small bits of dialogue difficult to hear — the music was occasionally overpowering what was happening onstage. Some of the movement interludes could have been shortened, to maximize impact. And some moments of dialogue are a bit heavy-handed or overly saccharine, sugar-coating a subject that really cannot be sugar-coated. Finding purpose in community, finding other ways to fill that need for motherhood is admirable to be sure — but it cannot be prescribed as a wholesale cure-all for anyone struggling with fertility issues.
Ultimately, I left the theatre feeling hopeful and inspired by M-Othering, and Dillon-Reams herself. Not only that — I also left wanting to dance.
M-OTHERING
The Old Market
Reviewed on 31st May 2025
by Stacey Cullen
Photography by Josh Hawkins
Previously reviewed by Stacey:
THE LAST INCEL | ★★★ | PLEASANCE THEATRE | May 2025
DEAR ANNIE, I HATE YOU | ★★★★ | RIVERSIDE STUDIOS | May 2025
REMYTHED | ★★★★ | KING’S HEAD THEATRE | May 2025
FRAT | ★★ | OLD RED LION THEATRE | May 2025
SCENES WITH GIRLS | ★★★ | GOLDEN GOOSE THEATRE | April 2025
DEAD MOM PLAY | ★★★ | UNION THEATRE | April 2025
SIX THE MUSICAL LIVE | ★★★★ | IN CINEMAS | April 2025
APEX PREDATOR | ★★ | HAMPSTEAD THEATRE | March 2025
