Sydney Reviews

Sass and soul, certainly, and a lot of heart, hurt,  hope and healing, Mother May We plunges into a pool of inter-generational pain and trauma, tempts drowning by sorrow and loss, splashes around, then surfaces stronger, buoyed by catharsis of cultural reclamation.

Mother May We is the debut solo show of Mel Ree, and through consummate gesture and costume, genuine warmth and charm, and an infectious energy, she immerses us in a wholehearted journey of reconciliation with her past.

Opening with an image and plaintive cry of an abandoned child, Ree literally takes us step by step through her formative years and the difficult relationship she had with her mother. Reconciling that relationship comes with a lot of self realisation and a reclaiming of cultural roots, not to mention embracing her body and sexuality and establishing common ground with community.

Conversational and chatty for the most part, with a couple of poetic soliloquy, one accompanied by by Fleetwood Mac’s Albatross, Mother May We pulses with Ree’s fluid physicality, mesmerising while in action, hypnotically poised while still. 

Seasoned with raunchy humour, this raw, real, sumptuously simple play meta morphs from pain to gain, its very title shifting from a plea of plaintive permission to consolidated and unifying progress.

Part of the prestigious Griffin Lookout program, which celebrates the best of independent Sydney theatre, Mother May We is a bewitching hour of theatrical magic. 

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