‘Theatre Mum’, MTFestUK 2025 Review
Written by Cathie for Theatre & Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review. Theatre Mum was performed as a work in sharing session to audiences at MTFestUK. This is a unique festival that provides a platform to showcase and celebrate new musical theatre.
For this year the fabulous MT fest is showcasing four incredible workshops at The Other Palace Studio. I was invited to review Theatre Mum, a one woman show starring Victoria Hamilton-Barritt. This show is written by Rory Svensson and is based upon the real life experiences and struggles of women who work in Musical Theatre and the challenges in having families whilst building your career. Filled with sparkling wit and joie die vivre we meet the chaotic character Kit at a pivotal moment in her life.
Kit can best be described as chaotic good personified. She is struggling with an overbearing mother who has a shrine to her career and a flimsy romantic connection to a player musical character. One drunken night locked in the theatre with her supposedly gay co ensemble ‘husband’ Ike and Kit ends up pregnant. We see her panic regarding this pregnancy, her awkward encounters with the gp and her struggle to find work in the musical theatre world to keep paying her bills as she cannot and will not find work anywhere outside of this very niche industry. In part this is due to the need to hide her baby bump and in part due to the extremely competitive nature of the West End. Throughout this struggle we see her go through many frankly awkward situations with a similar comedy style to Derry Girls, Miranda and Fleabag and these had the audience in absolute stitches of laughter throughout. This includes starting the play running onto the toilet on stage in panic and dressing up as a nun and nearly throwing up on a producer due to morning sickness. The highlights of pregnancy is discussed as well as the absolute havoc it reigns on a woman’s body, including cravings and bloating. It also doesn’t shy away from or judge women who choose to have an abortive procedure in order to take care of their own welfare and well being first, which is a decision that many women face in life no matter what their background.
However the majority of this 70 minute show the tone is comedic resilience and positivity as Kit learns how to take herself seriously, be there for herself and eventually stumbles her way into her own happily ever after. While Victoria is the only performer on stage we also hear audio recordings from Tarinn Callender, Lauren Azania, Dame Arlene Phillips, Ruthie Henshall and Lizzy Connolly who all brilliantly add layers of pathos, joy and wry reality to the unfurling layers of this play. Director Vicky Gimby has done a sterling job in keeping this production so precisely tuned and beautifully expressed in a tale of true theatrical heart and resilience. Musical director Helen Greenham is also incredible in the songs she has created for this show, including “hey siri” and the lighting and musical motifs that play every time a musical production is mentioned. It truly added a delectable cherry to the charm that is this production.
Victoria is incredible to watch as the main character Kit along with creating the voices and attitudes of the sundry flamboyant characters we meet in this tale. Every nuance, micro expressions and tone was used to its fullest capacity to create very vivid realisations of these characters and their unique personalities. Her performance is what brings this story to such great heights even in a workshop form.
Although it’s a hilarious story, the clear themes of the struggle to find oneself, the challenges of becoming a mother and the very real long term financial insecurity women face to become parents, are transparently defined throughout. This is discussed with charming frankness and open vulnerability to a beautiful effect. I sincerely hope that more media and art can address these struggles and support those working at all levels in the Musical Theatre industry so we can be a stronger, more inclusive and diverse industry overall.
This show is bursting full of love, refreshing frankness and a beautiful reflection on life and all its messiness. Theatre Mum is so packed with fabulous characters, jokes and one liners that it would definitely merit a repeat viewing and I firmly believe it would be amazing show in the West End.
★★★★
