Revu Are you there Mother?
“Are you there, Mother?” Poster
“Rosabelle, answer-tell-pray, answer-look, tell-answer, answer-tell.”
These are the words conman Arthur Ford used to convince Harry Houdini’s widow that her husband was speaking to her from the other side. They are also the words referenced in the opening lines of Are you there, Mother?, a shockingly funny dark comedy written and performed by Thomas Carruthers.
Set in Hull, the play follows the disastrous choices of struggling actor Vincent Burns. After being approached by a dying woman, Vincent agrees to convince her daughter that the afterlife exists. This moral dilemma snowballs in a way none could foresee, and only Vincent’s disillusioned greed could allow.
“Are you there, Mother?”
Carruthers’ talent certainly meets the challenge of a one-hander, offering well differentiated characters through voice and physicality. These are precisely delivered throughout: a select few character props add to the humour of the piece, and Vincent reports conversations with conviction. The performance also effectively marks location changes. Staged at The Hen and Chickens Theatre, the set is naturalistic. This allows Vincent to drop out of direct address and into the action. Overall, each scene held the audience’s attention and allowed suspension of disbelief. However, the worldview of the narrator is relentlessly (often hilariously) pessimistic. This prevents much shift in tone over the duration of the performance, though it successfully builds a sense of discomfort and foreboding.
Fortunately, the performance does not only rely on sardonic quips - Carruthers constructs a compelling narrative. There is something timeless about his crosshatch of psychological thrillers. With inspiration from Daphne du Maurier to Rob Reiner’s Misery (1990), the show comes into its own when it parodies the genre. Vincent plays a reluctant medium - a magician who reveals his tricks. This is inherently funny, and creates several mysteries of its own: what are the real dark forces at play? And, in true ‘80s fashion: how did I get here?
“Are you there, Mother?”
The show has a loud distaste for the commodification of grief, which is explored very effectively. Key themes include greed, entitlement and possession. There is also a clever analysis of victimhood, as power dynamics begin to warp and strain. On the other hand, fragments of a more topical message could be a little further developed. Vincent is misogynistic, unemployed and lonely. In some ways, this connects to a broader anxiety about the environment in which today’s young men are growing up. It also leaves us with a darker question: why does feigning the spiritual realm offer more to Vincent than engaging in real life?
4/5 Stars
“Are you there, Mother?”
Review written by Ella Kennedy
