Directed by Nicoal Berg
Reviewed by Dessa Bayrock
Plays again:
Sunday, April 27 at 8:00 p.m.
The stage is set in a humble apartment, the furniture sourced from MCC and the coffee table strewn with papers.
“Things never turn out the way you think they will,” single mother Sandra tells us, as we watch her daughter Kerry Ann type away on a laptop.
But even given a few twists at the end, the scene progresses more or less exactly how we think it will — not that that’s a bad thing. We see a snapshot of relationship between mother and daughter. Sandra natters on, skipping from one topic to another, asking a barrage of well-meaning questions that unsurprisingly drive her daughter crazy. This relationship is clear-cut and very real; with just a few wrinkles drawn on her forehead and a slightly slower way of moving around the stage, Sandra convinces us she’s well into middle age. The pair is quick to fight and make up, small flares of argument quickly retracted as Kerry Ann remembers she should play nicely.
The results of their conversation — mutual respect, “real happiness doesn’t come from job titles and fancy restaurants!” “I soon realized your dad has walked out and left me with the only thing that mattered; I had you!” — are cliché to say the least, but the sort of cliché that works for a reason. In the end, we see a sweet snapshot of a mother-daughter relationship. And even though we think we have it all figured out, Sandra is right; things don’t turn out the way we think they will.
Memorable lines:
“I’ve been in there — it’s like the greenroom of the Jerry Springer Show. All sweaty armpits and missing teeth!”
