Theatre review: Mother, A La Carte

Published on Tuesday 5 April 2011 19:59

MOTHER, A LA CARTE THE WORD OF MOUTH CAFE, EDINBURGH ***

IF YOU are expecting something sweet and sugary from Liberty Des Roches-Dueck's 45-minute monologue about mothers and mothering, playing at the tiny Word Of Mouth Cafe in Albert Street, then prepare for something of a shock. The subject is one often associated with gushing sentimentality; but the tone of Mother, A La Carte is boldly sceptical from the outset, as Des Roches-Dueck, who also performs the piece, reveals the tension in her own relationship with her mother, before going on to explore the ways in which various emotional patterns – guilt, martyrdom, emotional manipulation, as well as joy, wisdom, courage – are passed on from mother to daughter, along with family recipes, and strict instructions on how to make a perfect pot of tea.

Des Roches-Dueck is a warm and persuasive performer; but in the end, her tentative pacing, and slightly shapeless delivery, make the text seem a little less than the sum of its complex parts. Mother, A La Carte is an interesting show, though, attracting a rare all-female audience to a uniquely welcoming venue, and avoiding most of the clichs of the modern theatre of female complaint, with its belated discovery that neither motherhood nor menopause is a bowl of cherries. And Des Roches-Dueck and her co-creators, Rachel Amey and Liz Strange, can take pride in the rich, thoughtful quality of an event which acknowledges how food and cooking lie at the heart of the mothering experience, and of the unconscious legacies our mothers pass on to us, whether we want them or not.