Writers: Monika Matosevic and Ronja Ritter
Director: Line Guid Hedegaard
Sibling rivalries have fuelled theatrical dramas for centuries. And so it is with the new work Mother Soil, in which writers Monika Matosevic and Ronja Ritter play sisters Emma and Robin.
As teenagers and in the aftermath of their father’s death, the girls’ lives start to diverge. Emma, an artist like her mother, wins a placement at a prestigious overseas art school; the younger Robin decides to stay at home, becoming a primary school teacher while also caring for their remaining parent.
Matosevic and Ritter’s script sees us check in on the sisters over the years as Emma makes occasional return visits from her globetrotting life. In contrast, Robin has put down roots in the family home, starting a relationship with Leon Bach’s Casper, who was Emma’s best friend growing up.
As actors, the trio portray well the sensation that, even though the characters have transitioned from childhood to adult life, when reunited, the same petty squabbles are wont to return. Unfortunately, the quality of the writing is not great enough to stop the conversations from turning into the most banal of melodramas, with dialogue heavily riven with cliché.
The script affects all three actors’ attempts to bring emotional depth to their characters, further lessening the impact of what Matosevic and Ritter are building towards. This happens at the end of Act I, as their mother’s will dictates that the sisters should jointly inherit the family estate.
The disagreement about what the will means for the future fuels Act II, introducing elements of tension that would have been welcome far earlier. And while the actions of each sister – physically drawing a dividing line through the house and surreptitiously moving favoured bits of furniture to their side of the line – amplify the sense of reversion to childishness, there is much that could be improved to make the characters more believable.
This all leads to a final, climactic showdown between the sisters that displays a fine sense of fight choreography but continues the sense of two characters never quite as sharply defined in the audience’s minds as they are in the writers’.
In the programme notes, the writers describe Mother Soil as a piece of political theatre. The concept of two cultures clashing over disputed land may be ripe for deployment as an allegory. However, a little more focus on the characters and situations directly at hand would improve both the play and its suitability as metaphor.
Continues until 3 August 2024
