Mothers and Daughters

Depot Studio, Arts Wing, Swansea Grand Theatre

MOTHER'S Day was always going to be a poignant one for me this year, as I lost my own mother last June. It might be expected, therefore, that an event such as this one — devised to celebrate the relationship between mothers and their children — would be tinged with sadness.

Happily, this two-woman show, featuring Gill Yeomans and Fenella Brotherwood, managed to be an absorbing and ultimately uplifting affair in which the audience was treated to a miscellany of readings and extracts from plays reflecting differing aspects of what can be a turbulent yet rewarding relationship.

I had gone along expecting a variation on the parlour entertainment-type shows pioneered by the likes of producer Clive Conway, in which the likes of Hannah Gordon, Edward Fox and Nicola McCauliffe preside over themed readings of poetry and anecdotes with musical interludes, but the presentation here was altogether more imaginative and lively.

For one thing, both performers brought their acting talents to bear upon the drama extracts — most notably a lengthy excerpt from David Hare's play Amy's View and passages from Romeo and Juliet — and while the pace slowed during the readings from works such as Louisa M Alcott's Little Women, the show was none the worse for it and drew us into a gentler age, offering a different perspective on the mother/daughter relationship.

The most senior member of the audience — at 102, the oldest of all the Grand's regular patrons and a great supporter of events in the Arts Wing —clearly enjoyed this show, as did the rest of us — and our appreciation was rewarded with a slap-up cream tea following the performance, which seemed a fitting end to a thoroughly civilised and pleasant afternoon.

Graham Williams