Even if you don’t have children of your own, Parenthood: The Musical by Fluffy TOP Productions is something that you still need to see. For the first night’s audience, I shall admit I was the youngest one there, and certainly, the only woman who wasn’t a mother, but I’ll be the first to say that it made the experience magical.
Parenthood tells the story of four couples and a single father on their journey through parenthood, starting at the prenatal class and right through to being a grandparent and watching the grandkids run circles around your own. As I said, you do not have to be a parent or even a married person to enjoy this show. The songs are so truthful and honest, and the dialogue is raw and beautiful. At moments this show had me nearly in tears as, weeks after my own graduation, I watched parents say goodbye to their kids and send them off to university. Did I really leave my mother that sad just by heading off into the world? Did she really miss the sounds of yelling kids around the house now I was gone?
Throughout the course of the show, the nine people bumbling about, struggling with parenting plights, from PTA mothers to being the only dad at the school gates and awkwardly standing waiting for your child. It’s an insight into the true lives of our parents, turning them into real people and not just the figurehead of the family you knew and loved growing up. At one point, the mothers try to arrange a mums' night out, only to realise that none of them are free until at least 2030 - and even if you’re not a mother, that’s something we can all relate to just by being adults with adult friends.
The show itself is performed in a converted church out on the Isle of Dogs, just a five-minute bus ride from Canary Wharf. The Space only sits a few rows of six but the intimate setting really throws you into the action. With a small set made of beautifully designed oversized children’s blocks and a crib in the corner, the company manage to turn the stage into the set of a children’s birthday party, a maternity ward, and countless other places such as the school gates.
Overall, Parenthood is a funny, beautiful, true, and side-splitting journey through the realm of parenthood. Despite being such a small company, with only a few actors on stage at a time they have made a small space come alive. Not only with their characters and the vast range of personalities on stage, but also with their voices. If there is one magical thing about Parenthood it’s that it truly emulates parenthood. No couple knows what they’re doing. No-one can tell you how it’ll end or start. But Parenthood is about the journey between one or two people utterly in love with their creation, and it’s about people making beautiful music together (in this case, quite literally).
With only a few more nights of shows, Parenthood is down at The Space, and tickets are so worth it. Not only are you supporting a small company, but you’re supporting a show that the world needs to see. You’ll be laughing, you’ll be crying, but at the end of it all, you’ll be standing up and singing along, because that’s what Parenthood and parenthood are both about - coming together at the end for the love of one child.
Reviewer - Aidan Bungey
on - 23/7/19
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