Oh Mother, Soho Theatre review ★★★★★

RashDash’s latest show Oh Mother is an explosion of ideas on what it means to be a mother, and a carer. This thesis is explored in a flurry of song, choreographed movement and devised text, accompanied by a live cello soundtrack from the impressive Simone Seales. Performers Helen Goalen and Abbi Greenland take the helm devising and performing the show with Seales, with Beckie Wilkie (another RashDash core member) also contributing to the music composition.

There is a cauldron of ideas here, everything from mothers caring for babies, mothers caring for elderly mothers, conversations with childless friends, male partners trying to care for mothers, non-binary individuals navigating their mothers, non-binary individuals navigating their vaginas (Seales’ vagina is portrayed as a man with a long sword who sings his name ‘Don Giovanni’ at every opportunity), and so much more. But the show doesn’t plumb the depths of these ideas - all of which are thought-provoking stimuli - rather skates across them, moving swiftly onto the next.

Oh Mother, Soho Theatre. Photo: The Other Richard

This form is almost certainly intentional. The company defines its name as ‘rash as in reckless, dash as in fast’ so it makes sense they are trying to hit the audience with as many portrayals of motherly trials and tribulations as possible. Devising is at the heart of RashDash’s process, and they utilise a non-linear structure to make connections between themes. It could be argued that the central question at the heart of the piece is, ‘How do we care for others while caring for ourselves?’ The answers have the potential to be rich with nuance but aren’t fully developed in the show.

There are some attention-grabbing moments, like when a mother with a newborn ‘golden’ baby is at the edge of her sanity and starts to break down. She rants to the child in her arms in an increasingly erratic but hugely relatable outburst of frustration, anger, torture and even adoration. There are various scenes where you initially think two grown-ups are conversing, but you realise one of them is in fact a baby, and the other is their mother – all these elements are illustrated to great effect.

Oh Mother, Soho Theatre. Photo: The Other Richard

However, the show is not executed elegantly, perhaps intentionally due to the ‘messiness’ of motherhood. Transitions are clumsy and overly long; some scenes outstay their welcome. It feels like the show needs a bit more time in the rehearsal room to further excavate the material’s potential to make it a truly profound piece of theatre for everyone watching.

Oh Mother has the fertile ground for a very moving, emotional experience, especially for audience members who are mothers, or people who have or are caring for their parents. These individuals are understandably going to experience this show on a much deeper level. But relatability should never be taken for granted: if an audience is truly connected to the characters presented, they will instinctively relate to them because they are invested. Oh Mother doesn’t sit long enough with the different characters for you to truly feel for them, unless you are someone who happens to have that direct experience.