Sucking Eggs – Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle

Writer: Steve Byron

Director: Karen Traynor

Alphabetti’s Sucking Eggs, in partnership with Newcastle University, is a kitchen sink drama in the most literal sense of the word: it takes place entirely in a domestic kitchen and most of the action includes preparing meals, brews or sneaky nips of Russian tea.

Steve Hawksby’s Peter is a sixty-something now spending most of his time caring for his third-aged mother Rita. It is a bizarre relationship as although she has had a stroke and shows signs of dementia, she still has some of her old spunk from her pacifist protest days. The play starts with Ceitidh Mac’s cover of Dylan’s Times They Are A-changing, a track from the era of anti-Vietnam and Ban the Bomb demos. The domestic routine is ruined by the non-appearance of Rita’s daily paper (it has happened before apparently). So Peter phones the newsagent who has it sent round but not without some rudeness from the paper boy. All this goes in Peter’s little book, his way of coping with the world in all its uncertainties and dramas.

We are then introduced to Maggie (played with verve and veracity by Jacqueline Philips). Despite almost being a Grandma (a term she hates) she is dolled up to the nines in post-punk style. Her breakfast consists of Pot Noodle and vodka and she puts some rock music on the kitchen ghetto blaster. Bringing the play right up to date the radio announces the first cases of coronavirus in China, an era many of us find hard to recall now given the omnipresence of the virus. Brother and sister discuss the state of their mother, her stubborn and often angry temperament since the stroke, and how you cannot fight time however hard you try.

The conversation then goes on to Maggie’s relationship with her partner Malcolm, complaining she has not had sex for years. They also recall their mother in her prime, a passionate protester who helped so many and fought for justice wherever she saw it. As well as Rita’s pacifism Maggie acknowledges the positive influence of the feminism she brought into the household, with Germaine Greer’s The Female Eunuch as a Bible. This though is perhaps what drove their father to leave home. In this first scene writer Steve Byron has really given this two-hander depthful characters even though we never see or hear anyone other than Peter and Maggie.

When the budgie escapes Peter leaves Maggie to care for their mother. A ruckus ensues as Rita does not recognise her daughter and whacks her on the nose (all done as noises off). So Maggie once more turns to the vodka (her answer for everything). But this negative side of dementia is complemented in the narrative by the feature of a grand day out for Rita where she is recognised by all and is able to recognise too: there is hope in the darkness.

All of this leads to a tragic denouement but one quite fitting to the subject and tone of the peace. Now the background soundtrack is Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Freebird and then Boris’ epoch-making COVID speech.

Director Karen Traynor really brings out great performances from Philips and Hawksby, while Byron’s script is both sensitive but also challenges our preconceptions of the elderly, especially those suffering from dementia or recovering from a stroke. And it also brings up the issues facing those who care for them, often unpaid and on 24/7 hours. Plus there are also questions about our own ageing: when our mind and spirit says one thing and the body another.

A thought-provoking and exploratory piece that brings the kitchen sink drama genre (more often associated with the 60s) alive and kicking into the 21^st century. And not without a measure of angst that the angry young men like Osborne, Pinter, and Sillitoe would be proud of.

Runs until 26^th June with each performance also live streamed HERE