Birmingham Hippodrome – until Saturday 28th October 2023
Reviewed by Nadia Dodd
4****
A group of women, mom, mothers and mamas all spreading the message that you don’t have to be perfect.
The musical was originally conceived by book writer and lyricist, Emily Beecher. She was diagnosed with postnatal depression when her daughter was 10 months old.
Once Emily had started to get the correct treatment, her therapist suggested it would be helpful to write about her experiences. Emily also sought the experiences of other women. To her surprise she found that many others struggle with motherhood too.
The musical you see now is a collection of some of those stories over the past 10 years. This is now not only poignant but damn hilarious too!
Five mothers meet each other every week at playgroup with their little ones at the local community centre. When the local council threatens to close this facility due to the cost of living crisis, and wanting to replace it with planning permission for luxury apartments, the woman are furious, upset and anxious about their escapism being snatched away from them.
Michelle, (Rebecca Bernice Amissah), Bea (Joanna Kirkland), Sophie (Amy Ross), Chantel (Jade Samuels) and Esme (Belinda Wollaston) each tell their own background story throughout the musical which explains to the audience what has led them to that playgroup and exactly what meeting each week means to them. Not only for the children to mix with each other, it’s a reason they leave the house, get out of the normal mundane routine that you can easily find yourself stuck in.
The group have very cleverly and sensitively covered child loss, postpartum depression, racism, loneliness and postpartum psychosis. There were some hilarious references to giving birth and a fantastic rendition of ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees and Boobs’ !
The vocals of all 5 actresses were so powerful and mesmerizing I just wanted to hear more from them, it was a pity it had to end.
The stories were real, true and honest. Somethings that you wouldn’t always discuss with friends but you could tell that the whole audience were nodding in agreement, especially at the references to giving birth – anyone who has had a natural birth certainly understood the ‘ring of fire’ gag……
I had taken my husband with me, and he thoroughly enjoyed the musical. My only regret is not taking my daughter who is currently 26 weeks pregnant with her first child. I think this musical would have been such an eye opening experience for her – especially to learn that you can’t be perfect at motherhood, don’t beat yourself up about not being perfect and to accept that being good enough is best.