In order to slake my desperate need for theatre (most of my current circles of friends, while they may take in the occaisional musical, are not really people who frequent the theatre [save for perhaps one or two who may have trod the boards a time or two]), I went to the Bakehouse Theatre to see Shakespeare's Mothers: Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know (a play written by Kath Perry ... with additional bits by Bill Shakespeare). Here is my Talk Fringe review: Shakespeare wrote of many powerful women. Women who didn't meekly submit to their fate, but instead dared to bare their breasts and challenge the men around them. Queen Tamora of the Goths, Lady Macbeth, Queen Gertrude of Denmark, Queen Cleopatra of Egypt, Lady Capulet, and all the Queens and Duchesses of the royal cycle of plays (with an honourable mention to the Lady Falconbridge, of course). Women who often drive the action of the plays, and who usually reap the results of their hubris. And they were usually mothers.* Women with great parts. To some extent this play is indeed a reprise of their parts by the wonderful Cat Martin and excellent Kate Perry, who, with the simple addition of a toga, shawl, scarf, crown, or bracelet, become each of these famous female characters, while the male parts, where required, are played by the handsome and charming (as he repeatedly tells us) Alexander Jonas. But the sheer joy and great beauty of this work, is the framing mechanism, as Alexander plays Shakespeare himself, narrating and introducing and (to a slight degree) explaining the various roles, and justifying their use, often with great comedic effect (especially if you do know the original plays). It is beautifully done, although it is the highly polished work of all three that constantly moves the play smoothly through all the various roles, easily seguing from one to another, advancing the motif that Shakespeare's Mothers are indeed Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know. I wish I could have seen it earlier in it's run in order to recommend it to more people and give them a chance to see it. Tomorrow is the last show. If you aren't doing anything, go see it (and support the rising incidence of international women's terrorism in the modern world). * Of course, if you really want a story with mothers kicking arse and taking names, you can't go past the Kalevala, where it seems the heroes, especially the carefree Lemmikainen, tend to be continually rescued by their mothers when they get in trouble. |
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