Writer: Phoebe Moore
Director: Grace Darvill
MaMa tells us little new about the state of the world. Plays about the ecological crisis are two-a-penny and this one by Collateral Damage Ensemble is destined, like many others, to fall on deaf ears. However, this 40-minute play, perhaps more suited for youngsters, does have an interesting premise that holds the interest.
It’s a shame, then, that this original addition to a familiar story comes so late into the play. We discover over halfway through that our pregnant protagonist and her digital assistant Siri are the last women left alive on Earth. But before this announcement, we are given a long lecture about the Big Bang, the stretching universe and the formation of the terrestrial planets in our solar system.
Again, these subjects are covered in many school science classes and the presentation of these facts by a quartet of actors playing Siri doesn’t shed any new light on these theories. The four performers try their best to be zany and break out in song at key moments but their antics are too childish to be effective. Our heroine tries to switch Siri off but, unfortunately for everyone, they refuse to respond.
The goofy lectures go on for far too long – we have a discussion of dinosaurs too – and by the time we find out how humanity was wiped out the play is almost finished. We never learn how the woman survived or how she continues to survive without other people around. At one point she suggests that she may have to try ‘cross-breeding’. She doesn’t seem keen to keep humanity alive so luckily doesn’t have to think the unthinkable.
There are so many interesting questions which remain unanswered and scenarios unexplored that MaMa is underwhelming. Frankie Roberts is excellent as the soon-to-be mother while Lucia Kang, Robin Attril- Gold, Cameron Sinclair Harris and Grace Lloyd are occasionally funny but their gurning becomes tiresome quite quickly.
Collateral Damage, of course, has the best intentions but this lecture on human failure could benefit from a new structure and from finding the right audience.
Runs until 13 August 2023
Camden Fringe runs until 27 August 2023
