A son attends his biweekly therapy session, a family dinner is held, and a daughter visits her dying mother. Though these three scenarios seem unrelated, each bleeds into one another, exploring the cyclical nature of trauma in AfterLife Theatre’s newest show Visiting My Mother and Other Repetition Compulsions.
In the show’s program, playwright Patrick Teed explores the theme of his play, explaining that “[t]he people we love will hurt us in ways that mark us forever. They hurt us, and we choose them, over and over again. They hurt us because we choose them, over and over again. I can think of nothing more tragic, and nothing more beautiful, than the simple, inexorable fact of the masochism structural to human connection.” Teed’s analysis is an uncomfortable truth that many audience members will be sure to relate to, one he explores and balances in a script that both intellectualizes and empathizes the idea of trauma, love, and the need to understand it. Despite the heavy moments in the play, the show itself is surprisingly tender with humour peppered in to lift some of the weight.
The show is performed perfectly by Meg Webster and Audrey Clairman. Webster and Clairman play off each other well, each giving the other the space to perform their roles and highlight the cyclical nature of the show. Webster plays the roles of Son, Analysand, and Grandmother though it’s the role of Son and Analysand we spend the most time with. Webster does an excellent job of portraying the Son with an earnestness as he tries to understand his Mother despite the trauma she has caused him. While the roles of Son and Analysand differ very little from one another, it’s interesting to see the shift of the Son go from intellectualizing his trauma to then become the Analysand in a parentified role to his Mother. Clairman plays the roles of Mother, Analyst, and Daughter but shines as Mother and Daughter. The switch from Analyst to Mother is shocking but highlights Clairman’s talent from an observer to the loud and rambling Mother as her unspoken trauma is revealed during the family dinner scene. Clairman again shows this as the Daughter when speaking to her Mother (played by Webster as Grandmother) when her need for and fear of answers to her trauma come through. Both actors deserve high praise for the many monologues they perform with ease throughout the show.
My one gripe has to do with a technical choice in the show. During the family dinner scene a voice distortion tool was used to signify the Mother’s husband and daughter speaking who are not present in the show but represented by two empty chairs and the distorted voice. It was very difficult to understand what was being said, but this may have been the point. It added a certain Charlie Brown quality to the scene, but may have worked better without the effect and just having the characters act as if the husband and daughter were in the scene instead.
Visiting My Mother and Other Repetition Compulsions is a heavy but compassionate show that successfully analyzes why we put in the work to understand the ones who hurt us. This show holds up a mirror to ourselves and asks for the space to listen, understand, and find a place for love despite the messy bits. It’s an unforgettable show, and if you only get to see one at this year’s Fringe, make sure this is it!
My Rating: ⛤⛤⛤⛤⛤
Playwright: Patrick Teed
Director: Carly Anna Billings
Performers: Audrey Clairman (Mother/Analyst/Daughter) & Meg Webster (Son/Analysand/Grandmother)
Junior Producers: Annie Laleon and Tone Bailey
Warnings: Coarse Language
Age Suitability: Parental Guidance (ages 13+)
Genre: Theatre—Comedy, Theatre—Drama
Run Time: 60 mins
Venue: Theatre Aquarius Studio
Show Dates: July 25th @ 8:45pm, July 26th @ 4:15pm, July 27th @ 1:45pm
Summary:
A therapy session, a family dinner, a hospital visit, the unbearable tension of the ordinary. Brought to you by the ALERT Company-in-Residence Afterlife Theatre, witness a show about the burden of unsaid inheritances, the pathology of familial love, and the tragedy of unconscious repetition.
Sarah O'Connor 