STUDENT THEATRE REVIEW: All About My Mother - Grosvenor East Theatre, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester.

Pedro Almodovar is a well-known contemporary Spanish film writer / director. 'Todo Sobre Mi Madre' {All About My Mother} from 1999, is perhaps one of his best works to date. Here, in an English stage version by Samuel Adamson, directed by Seb Harcombe, the final year students of Manchester School Of Theatre at MMU, presented us with a particularly sincere and heart-felt piece of drama.

Esteban has just turned 17. He lives with his mother, never knowing his father. Naturally he is curious and wants to complete his family picture (both actually and metaphorically) but his mother refuses to say anything about him. His mother, Manuela, originally from Argentina, has returned to Barcelona to try and locate her errant husband, and in so doing has to deal with the tragic death of her son in a car crash, and become surrogate mother to three other women who cross her path and irrevocably change her life in the so doing: a trans-woman called Agrado, a young pregnant nun Rosa hiding from life in a convent, and the third, stage actress star Huma Rojo along with her drug-addicted co-star and lover Nina. And although the title of this play concerns Esteban's narrating of his mother's life, it is clear that the scope of 'mother' is extended to many females both present in the play and otherwise, starting with Bette Davis. The play does not shy away from contemporary excess and sexuality, but rather shows it compassionately and sensitively; providing the audience with the ever-present threat and consequences of AIDS [both Sister Rosa and Manuela's now trans husband] as well as drug overdosing. There is no denying that this play doesn't pull any of it's punches, and is the better for not doing. The characters are all flawed, but fully rounded, and even if we cannot empathise with them, we certainly are able to understand and feel for their plights - the direction and performances were so raw, real, and skilled. 

The set was a series of stage blocks and boxes in a bright Mediterranean saffron, which were used creatively and effectively throughout, whilst the back wall was of the same colour with a graffitti painted outline of the Madonna And Child. Brown terracotta tiles arranged sporadically on the floor completed the scene, which cleverly managed to give the illusion of both Mediterranean architecture, and run-down squalor. Simple but effective lighting and subtle musical underscoring helped enormously in this regard too. The transition between scenes (and there were many!) were extremely swift - perhaps a little too swift at times, we had to play catch-up on a couple of occasions! -  but the play never lost any of the dynamic thrust or arc, and we were fully invested in it despite its rather long running time.

All the cast impressed, and having never seen the film, I enjoyed this presentation purely on its own merits. [although I now need to watch the film!]. However, I would like to make special mention to just three of this afternoon's cast. Tomas Azocar-Nevin played the role of Agrado with such ease, it seemed to me that he had always been that way, his sexuality and identity never in question. A truly incredible performance. Whilst Amy Dewsnip's nuanced and delicate yet wholly sincere performance of Huma-cum-Blanche was incredibly well measured and detailed. Ellie Edwards's Manuela was sympathetic, centred, and very real too, and she made for an extremely watchable and enigmatic protagonist.  

An impressive piece of theatre.

Reviewer - Matthew Dougall
on - 6.5.22