Review: DEAD MOM PLAY, Union Theatre

A recently bereaved young man spars with his hyper-critical dead mother and Death himself in an attempt to accept his grief and move on. One too many vignettes à la Scooby Doo chase and not enough personal reckoning have this black comedy twist and turn but never truly fulfil its potential.

Two levels continuously dislodge and fall into place in what ultimately becomes an exegesis of mourning filled with cynicism and well-written banter. Playwright and director Ben Blais builds an interesting picture. Charlie’s attempts at ignoring the elephant in the room (the deathbed) are blocked by his own dying mum, who’s equally bitter and seems generally alright with the thought of expiring. He fills the silence with academic tangents spanning everything from scientific topics to marketing and the arts delivered at the speed of light while she drifts off or rehashes pivotal moments in their lives.

It’s an intriguing blend of absurdism and dark slapstick, but the derivative segments and slight trauma dumping aren’t too skewed towards the first to make a stable statement. We can see where Blais is going, we simply never reach the destination. Charlie never takes the plunge, neglecting to wrap up his regrets. His mother’s reproaches turn into guilt, but the repercussions of his avoidance never materialise. Perhaps that’s the point. While the show gets a lot right—the constant need for distractions, the estrangement and dissociation caused by grief, the tedious, incessant repetition of intrusive do-gooders—it doesn’t crack the subject open and explore its knots.

Having a kooky representation of Death (Joseph Bellis) who restlessly mocks and taunts Charlie (Griffyn Bellah) and a complex mother figure (Hannah Harquart) who interjects the action to recall her son from his tangential propensities and deliberate rejection cements the style of choice but doesn’t satisfy it. Placing a meta-theatrical element on top of a narrative that’s already splintered enough further strays the objective and muddles its delivery. It’s fun, but it doesn’t serve this specific production. Reigning in the various elements and refocusing the core on Charlie’s struggle, voicing it laterally (as it does) but indisputably might give the story a stronger command on its themes.

The writing is robust, able to take the shifts in tone and genre; it’s adroit at packing a punch and charming with affable poetry and endearing quirks. As a piece, Dead Mom Play is engaging and entertaining, asking the audience to embrace a series of emotional somersaults to appreciate its inventiveness.

Dead Mom Play runs at the Union Theatre until 17 April.