See You Later, Mum

These are stories and songs of a daughter’s relationship with her mother: transcending the separation between England and Australia, revealing the differences and commonalities across three generations of mothers.

Christine Firkin plays the mother, Dottie, and her daughter, Jennifer, when she’s older; Kay Proudlove plays the younger Jennifer, and her daughter, Sophie. There’s little confusion on the simple stage though: the narrative is constructed from vignettes of mother-daughter relationships, and whilst the stories jump years and time zones without warning, quick changes of clothing and hairstyle signal who, where and when.

Each story has themes of missing out, loss, death and new life. Director Brent Thorpe’s simple guidance of the two performers means that the love between parent and child always has time and space to glint through the bickering and overlapping conversations.

Proudlove’s beautiful songs are carried on a guitar and a voice – sometimes the two voices, harmonising heartfelt lyrics with clever rhymes (warn me/horny and yoga/sober got the most laughs). They’re hard-hitting too: the chorus of ‘Bugger it, I’m still here’ is funny yet still heartbreaking.

Proudlove demonstrates a Northern accent convincing enough for this Englishman to think about the land of his birth, and she is a stronger actor and singer than Firkin – but it doesn’t matter much, because their relationship is believable: their stories and interactions are realistic and sad, touching and funny.

Mark Wickett

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